Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal California Connection

A discussion group on the San Jose Mercury News website was discussing controversies swirling about a new billion dollar football stadium that is going to be built in their area.

One of the people opining brought up the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal and added links to my webpages that deal with that issue. They tried to link both to the main page that details what Jerry Jones did to Arlington and comments from around the world that mostly verbalize outrage over the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.

A San Jose Mercury News opiner then thanked me for the fixed links and added some interesting information about how Arlington got snookered by Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, which you can read below....

"Thanks for this, Durango.

The stadium proposal in Santa Clara, California, probably won't require any eminent domain seizures because the land is already in our Redevelopment Area.

But your updated links make clear - or should make clear - to certain stadium boosters here: There is a real human cost to "plopping" an NFL stadium down anywhere. And in our neighborhood, there's a lotta denial on that subject.

Eminent Domain abuses aside, the Dallas Cowboys stadium has another cost as well:

"...After Dallas rejected a $425 million dollar subsidy the City of Arlington taxpayers approved an up to $325 million subsidy to pay for up to one-half of the cost of land acquisition, construction, and infrastructure required for the new Cowboy stadium."

http://business.baylor.edu/Tom_Kelly/cowboys.doc

Let's hope that the development of all of that seized land makes it worthwhile to somebody. Here in Santa Clara, we'll have nothing else to go with our $1B stadium except for a Convention Center and a theme park.

Here's how Arlington will pay that back:

AUSTIN, Texas -- Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'A' rating to the Arlington, Texas (the city) $312.7 million Dallas Cowboys Complex special obligation bonds. The financing is composed of three series:

--$136.9 million tax-exempt special tax bonds, series 2005A;
--$152.9 million tax-exempt special tax auction-rate bonds, series 2005B;
--$22.9 million taxable special tax and revenue bonds, series 2005C.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_June_27/ai_n14699827

Turns out that "A" grade is two grades down from AAA, or prime, and that means that Arlingtonians will be paying more to bondholders than they would for AA or AAA bonds.

Sounds like a raw deal to me.

If we hand a cash subsidy over to Dr. John York - we'll be selling bonds just for the privilege.

The lower our own bonds are rated, the more that Santa Clarans, now and in the future, will have to pay back to bondholders.

Golly, I can't wait."

Fort Worth & Texas Wesleyan University

Yesterday I was looking at my webstats and I saw my Eyes On Texas website was getting hits from the Texas Wesleyan University website. So, of course, I wondered what fresh hell this was.

I was quite surprised when I found out how they were linking to my stuff. It was in a totally delusional, far more delusional than even the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has ever been, description of Fort Worth. Describing Fort Worth as the cultural capital of the Southwest. And the top art and architecture city between the two coasts! And Fort Worth's zoo as ranked top in the country! Apparently Fort Worth is in a different country than San Diego, Seattle, New York City and Los Angeles.

I'll copy and paste the bizarro propaganda below.

But first I've gotta tell you the weirdest part of this warped description of Fort Worth. In the second sentence in the first paragraph we read the following, "Historic Downtown provides interesting architecture and wonderful entertainment for locals and visitors." Note the "Historic Downtown" link. They are linking to my take on downtown Fort Worth! It is not a flattering look. The TWU verbiage also mentions the Water Gardens. That is a pic from my Historic Downtown webpage, showing a sleeping homeless person in the Water Gardens.

Below is the amusingly weird verbiage from the TWU website. But, before you read that, I gotta say, you'll learn in the first sentence that Fort Worth is a model of urban planning. For who I shudder to wonder? At the end of the weird verbiage you'll read mention made of Heritage Park in this amazing model of urban planning. Heritage Park is in downtown Fort Worth. It is closed, surrounded by ugly cyclone fencing, a rundown eyesore. Go here for a look at the current state of this park in this model of urban planning.

From the Texas Wesleyan University website-----

"Fort Worth is a model of urban planning; you can visit different sections of town and find a variety of activities in their own distinctive settings. Historic Downtown provides interesting architecture and wonderful entertainment for locals and visitors. Friendly police patrol regularly on horseback, bicycle or segway and greet the visitors. Charming, unassuming, and remarkably unhurried, downtown's centerpiece, Sundance Square is 14 blocks of redbrick streets and late-19th-century buildings and has attractions that include the magnificent Bass Performance Hall (the permanent home to major performing arts organizations of Fort Worth including the symphony, ballet, opera, and live theater), a couple of cowboy museums, and a pair of Art Deco movie theaters. After lunch, you can relax and cool down in the sculptural Water Gardens, an oasis in the center of town. Downtown is visitor-friendly with sidewalks that invite strolling on the streets which are lit up like a Christmas tree at night. Sundance Square's restaurants and pubs are the heart of downtown nightlife and visitors can mingle with the out-going locals.

Fort Worth is considered the cultural capital of the Southwest, with a thriving performing arts scene and three of the most impressive small art museums in the country. Wealthy patrons (mostly from oil money) and an enthusiastic city welcomed some of the world's most celebrated architects to create the Kimbell Art Museum, Amon Carter Art Museum, and Museum of Modern Art which have made Fort Worth as perhaps the top art and architecture city between the two coasts. In the park-like Cultural District, along with the three art museums are the spacious and beautiful Botanical Gardens with its Japanese Gardens, Casa Manana (a theater-in-the-round under a geodesic dome), the Museum of Science and Natural History and its Omni Theater, the Will Rogers Center and Coliseum (home of national rodeos), the Log Cabin Village from pioneer days, and the Fort Worth Zoo, ranked top in the country. Fort Worth hosts the second largest park land space of any U.S. city. The scenic, green-belted Trinity River Trails provide runners and families 35 miles of natural-surfaced and paved paths linking the various parts of town with the several parks dotted along the way, like the Heritage Park downtown and the wooded Trinity Park in the Cultural District."

Forbes Magazine Hot Royals

Why would Forbes Magazine want to designate who they think are the World's "20 Hottest Young Royals?" With only unmarried royals under 35 qualified to be considered for their Hotness.

That is the world's #2 Hottest Royal in the photo, Hot Harry. So hot he had to take his shirt off.

Harry is the son of the late Princess Diana. I don't believe any DNA testing has been done to determine, for certain, who the father is.

UK Royals took the Top 4 Hot Spots. I've only heard of the first 2. I'd heard of none of the World's other Hot Royals either.

I'm so ignorant I didn't know that Sweden, Germany, Greece or Denmark even had royals. I knew the Arab countries were big on having Kings and Queens. 2 of them are Hot. I'm not totally fluent in Arab, but I think one of the Hot ones is a boy and the other a girl. I can't tell by their names, but #6 is a Sheik. I'm thinking that is Arab for Prince. And then at #17 we have a Sheika. Which I'm guessing is a girl Sheik.

The Sheik is from Dubai, the Sheika from the United Arab Emirates. #18 is also from an Arab country, Jordan, but she isn't a Sheika, she's a Princess. Africa has only 1 Hot Royal, coming in in last place, a Princess from Swaziland.

Here's the entire list for you to commit to memory.

01. Prince William (Britain)
02. Prince Harry (Britain)
03. Zara Phillips (Britain)
04. Princess Beatrice (Britain)
05. Charlotte Casiraghi (Monaco)
06. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (Dubai)
07. Princess Victoria (Sweden)
08. Prince Azim (Brunei)
09. Prince Carl Philip (Sweden)
10. Andrea Casiraghi (Monaco)
11. Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis (Germany)
12. Princess Madeline (Sweden)
13. Princess Theodora (Greece and Denmark)
14. Prince Wenzeslaus (Liechtenstein)
15. Princess Tsuguko (Japan)
16. Princess Sirivannavari (Thailand)
17. Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (United Arab Emirates)
18. Princess Iman bint Al Hussein (Jordan)
19. Prince Philippos (Greece and Denmark)
20. Princess Sikhanyiso (Swaziland)

Is Bush an Idiot?

That is the subject of a Scarborough MSNBC YouTube video that you can watch below. I'd not seen many of Scarborough's pieces of evidence regarding Bush's possibly idiocy.

Am I remembering correctly? Did there used to be a time when we would not have openly speculated on such a thing regarding a president? Is it somehow in bad taste?

I know a tempermental Puerto Rican who thinks one should not speak ill of the president. Or make fun of him. She thought it was in terribly bad taste to include Bush on a list of men who looked like old lesbians.

Yesterday I blogged some pics of Bush acting goofy at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, where he'd given a commencement speech and then proceeded to engage in some frat boy frolicking with the cadets.

This morning I see on my web stats that I've got a lot of people from the Air Force Academy looking at that particular blogging. I hope they don't take umbrage.

Now, watch the below video and see if you think Bush is an idiot.

Something Actually Funny From The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

This afternoon I came across something amusing. And it is from a source where I've seldom found them being intentionally amusing, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Well. Unbeknownst to me, the Star-Telegram has been running this little weekly video show on their website called DaFoWo Show. As in Dallas Forth Worth Show.

I tried to embed the video from this week, but that source code did not work. It's pretty funny, with one section tracking Fort Worth's current Gaydometer Reading. And another showing one of my kind, a hapless Northerner, coping with the Texas heat. You can view the video I could not embed at the Star-Telegram website by going here. I don't know how long it will be viewable til replaced by the next week's video.

I found an episode from a month or so ago, on YouTube that I am able to embed below. It's not quite as amusing as the current week's episode, but it's still pretty funny in a couple places.

Alma is the First Hurricane of the Year

Alma became the eastern Pacific's first named Tropical Storm of the year today. She is dropping a lot of water on Central America and is expected to become a hurricane before she hits Nicaragua late today.

It seems odd to me that so many hurricanes are named after people I know. Alma is one of the best Songbirds of the South, currently performing in various venues on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Alma does not like hurricanes.

I don't know what Alma's predicted trajectory is after she leaves Nicaragua and enters the Caribbean. I don't know if Alma is heading in Alma's direction.

George W. Bush Air Force Academy Commencement Goofiness

Yesterday Our Dear Leader, President George W. Bush, gave a commencement speech at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

During his speech Bush said the whole Iraq thing had been a learning experience, as in he said, "we learned from hard experience that newly liberated people cannot make political and economic progress unless they first have some measure of security."

Let's see, we invaded Iraq while bombing the hell out of the country in a program called "Shock & Awe." We then occupied Iraq, supposedly to make sure Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.

Then, for some reason some Iraqis did not feel as if they'd been liberated, they felt like they'd been invaded and so they fought back, hoping to be liberated of the liberators.

I know if some other country didn't like America having weapons of mass destruction, which we do have, and if that country thought America's leader was a threat to the peace of the world, and if that country decided to invade America, with a Shock and Awe bombing of Washington, D.C., including the presidential palace known as the White House and if after the invasion that country captured our President, put him on trial and then executed him, well, I would be quite mad and I would become an insurgent doing anything I could to hurt the invaders.

And it would really make me mad to hear the leader of the country that had invaded America, and toppled our government, claim that we'd been liberated.

And on a totally different note. The photos in this post were taken yesterday during the graduation ceremony. Bush appears to be acting quite goofy, what with chest thumping a cadet and smoking cigars, among other things.

Meanwhile two more Americans were killed in Iraq yesterday during a battle at a place in Iraq called Donkey Island.

The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen Are In Seattle

Click here for a July posting about Seattle's Blue Sky, including song Seattle.

(The photo of Mount Rainier is the view from my big sister's place on Lake Meridian in Kent)

I believe I am heading that way in July. I've not been in Washington for over 2 years. When I'm gone this long it is a bit of an adjustment returning to the Evergreen State. First off, I'll be going from temps in the 100s to temps where the locals think they are having a heat wave when 2 days in a row temps are in the 80s. I'll feel very chilly. Til I acclimate.

Second off, the people will look to me like they've had the air let out of them. I first experienced this driving back for my mom and dad's 50th. It was in Colorado the people seemed to start looking deflated. And then I went into a Super Wal-Mart in Ontario, Oregon and it looked like everyone had just come from a 2 month stay at a health spa.

2004 was my last time in the Northwest during summer. That time Lulu plucked me from the airport and drug me to downtown Seattle to Pioneer Square to deliver some of her fabulous jewelry art to a gallery. I'd not been back in 3 years and I could not get over how many people were out and about in lively downtown Seattle. And how the vast majority looked like they'd had the air let out of them.

Fort Worth is so proud of being named the Liveliest Downtown in Texas. I wonder what a Fort Worther thinks when they see an actual lively downtown like Seattle's? With all its deflated people. It must be perplexing.

I'll be staying at my little sister's in Tacoma, where I'll play uncle to her babies, two cute poodles. The bulk of my time will be spent working with Operation Lulu. That should be fun. It always is.

(That is the Tacoma Dome in the pic, with Mount Rainier behind it. Both built with no eminent domain abuse.)

At some point in time my mom and dad will show up. I've not seen them in over 2 years. Today I learned I'll get to install some ceiling fans and chandeliers in my sister's house. I've not done something like that in awhile. I hope I don't electrocute myself.

I hope I manage to get over to Eastern Washington. I've not done that since 2004. I love spending time in Washington's Bavarian Village known as Leavenworth. When I first moved to Texas I read of a town here called Muenster, that promoted itself as if it were a Leavenworth type thing. It isn't. Leavenworth is Disneyesque in its attention to detail. Muenster was more like no one there knew where or what Bavaria is. Muenster did have a dusty German bakery and a German pizza parlor. I've no idea what that means.

It's the fresh fruit I really wanna go to Eastern Washington for. I've not had a good apricot in 4 years. I love apricots.

In Texas you can buy blackberries for about 3 bucks for a few ounces. In Washington blackberries grow everywhere. I intend to eat a lot of blackberries and have a lot of fresh blackberry milkshakes. And seafood. In Texas seafood is called catfish. I want cod. Or halibut. And some fresh out of the water dungeness crab. And oysters.

Since I moved to Texas all the berries that grow in Washington have now become known as Super Foods. I grew blueberries on my rooftop deck and never managed to eat all that I grew. I did not know, at the time, that they were Super Foods. Where I lived farms grew blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. But no blackberries, because they grow wild everywhere. It amazes me that blackberries are something you buy in a grocery store here in Texas.

I'll be blogging and doing a lot of video when I'm up north. I'm sure my thousands of readers will be eagerly anticipating that. I know I am.

Hulk Hogan Car Wreck

Hulk Hogan's son, Nick, is doing time for being underage while driving drunk and speeding, resulting in a wreck that left his friend, John Graziano, in a coma that he has not come out of.

Nick's wreck took place in Clearwater, Florida. On Sunday Hulk Hogan was driving his Mercedes and got into a 7 car pile-up. Also in Clearwater, Florida. I don't know if Hulk Hogan was drunk and speeding. I do know he is old enough to consume alcohol.

I also know jail conversations between Nick and his dad have been recorded and you can listen to them. In the one I listened to, Hulk Hogan trashes the guy that his son put into a coma. Nick says the guy in a coma was very negative.

On the recording I listened to there was not the slightest hint of remorse that the victim was in a coma. Instead, Nick was wanting his dad to help arrange for him to have a new reality show when he gets out of stir. A reality show detailing his comeback from being in jail.

Nick's main concern regarding his reality show was that he wanted to make as much money on it as possible.

Is there a petition somewhere we can sign to keep this kid from making money from doing jail time for being underage and driving drunk and putting someone in a coma?

You can listen here to Hulk Hogan and his jailbird son discuss the son's victim and his future. The son's future, I mean, not the victim's future. The two Hogan's don't seem to give a rat's ass about the victim.

Obama's Memorial Day Gaffe

We've had a very stormy day today in North Texas. Around noon I was walking in Veteran's Park in Arlington. It was hot, with very dark clouds moving south. And then suddenly extreme wind and a huge temperature drop. I went from hot to chilly in seconds.

While walking I was listening to Rush Limbaugh. No, I am not a right wing nut job. I find him very amusing. And my cheap radio headphones only get one station clear, that being WBAP out of Dallas. And Limbaugh happens to be on the air when I walk or ride my bike.

So, today this woman calls up yammering about Barack Obama seeing dead people. It took awhile for Rush to sort out what she was talking about. Seems at the start of a Memorial Day speech in Las Cruces, New Mexico Obama gaffed when he said--

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

Obama's official website quickly removed the unfortunate verbiage.

There seems to be a sort of cottage industry tracking Obama's Gaffes. He's repeated several times that his uncle helped liberate Treblinka and Auschwitz. Trouble is, the Russians liberated both those death camps. American troops did not enter Poland, which is where those death camps were located.

Maybe his uncle told Barack this and Barack never thought to question the story. Just like he didn't question his assertion that over 10,000 had died in a tornado in a small Kansas town.

And there's what I thought was a gaffe during a debate with Hillary, which I never read anyone questioning. It was about the administration's poor planning in Afghanistan and Iraq. Barack claimed that the U.S. army was stretched so thin by the Iraq deployment, with not enough guns, that our soldiers in Afghanistan at one point had to use guns they'd taken from dead Taliban. When he said that it just seemed ridiculous to me. I really can't see those in command not making sure their men have good ol' American guns, let alone having them use Taliban guns.

Maybe it wasn't a gaffe. But I sure don't recollect reading about any incidents like this. And one would think one would.

Below you can hear Obama make his Memorial Day Sixth Sense Gaffe at the start of his speech.

Puerto Rico Primary

I know a Puerto Rican. She moved from the island to the states over 20 years ago. She talks to her mom, back on the island, at least once a day. That is every single day for more than 20 years.

The Puerto Rican pays attention to beauty pageants. Miss Puerto Rico won Miss Universe awhile back. This caused much celebration on the island and a late night extra call to the mom on the island.

Puerto Rico is now all atwitter due to the first time ever being the focus of the American presidential race, with visits by all the Clintons, including Chelsea, and by Obama. The Clintons have spent more time on the island than Obama. Apparently Puerto Ricans like Hillary more than Barack.

That is certainly true of my local Puerto Rican. She gets down right nasty talking about Obama. Apparently Puerto Rican's are born with really bad tempers. Or so I've been told. My local Rican can get worked up almost over just about anything. One time she was screaming about something Arnold, the California governor, said along the lines of "Puerto Rican's are hot-blooded, violent people who are quick to anger." I said, "You are hot-blooded, violent people who are quick to anger."

"That may be true, but he shouldn't have said it," she said in anger mode without any sense of the irony.

My local Puerto Rican is very politically opinionated. But she has never voted. The United States came to possess Puerto Rico upon winning the Spanish-American War. We also took over Cuba and the Philippines. Cuba got its independence in 1902, the Philippines got theirs after WWII. But Puerto Rico remains a U.S. possession with a sort of Commonwealth arrangement. Puerto Ricans pay no federal taxes, yet get social security and food stamps.

In 1974 the Democratic National Committee decided it was a good idea to hold democrat presidential primaries on the island. But Puerto Ricans can not vote in the November election. With 63 voting delegates they will send more delegates to Denver than half the states. The reason the Democrats decided to let Puerto Ricans vote in a primary was to curry favor with the Puerto Ricans who were living in the states.

I don't know how this was supposed to work. The Puerto Rican's I've met are pretty independent thinking. Like my local Rican is the only person I know who likes George W. and she says she'd vote for Hillary or John McCain, but not for Barack.

People who talk about who they'd vote for and then don't vote somehow annoy me.

The Future of Fort Worth

That is Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief behind bars. 67% of my thousands of readers want me to keep bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All I can muster right now is a slight variant of that type bashing.

In a paid for by the city of Fort Worth full page advertisement in the Memorial Day Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in an article titled "Citywide Conversation to Shape Fort Worth's Future," Mayor Mike Moncrief is quoted as saying, "Usually, this council and I are the ones doing the talking, but this is our time to listen to you, Fort Worth. We want to hear the concerns, observations and suggestions of our residents as to how we can make the best city in the country even better for future generations."

Best city in the country? Delusions of grandeur is such a sad spectacle to see up close.

But, even weirder than that is this Citywide Conversation thing. The lead paragraph says, "It happened in 1963 and '92. Now, it's happening again---a citywide conversation to stimulate dialogue among Fort Worth residents."

So, twice in the past 45 years the Ruling Junta of Fort Worth has listened to its citizens? And now they are going to listen again?

Here's an idea. Rather than listening how about letting the citizens vote?

Soon bulldozers will begin leveling businesses and houses taken by eminent domain, in yet one more abuse of that legit concept, via its bastardized version as practiced in Texas, in order to destroy the confluence of two forks of the Trinity River at the north end of downtown Fort Worth, to build a lake, some canals and a flood control diversion channel.

The flood control thing had to be added so as to be able to have some sort of legit reason for this project so as to be able to secure Federal funds. Yes, that is right, you in the rest of America, some of your tax dollars are helping pay for this boondoggle.

A boondoggle, I forgot to mention, that the good citizen's of Fort Worth have not been allowed to vote for.

Dallas has a similar project that was in place when Fort Worth copied it. Major difference, the citizens of Dallas, living as they do in an enlightened democracy, got to vote for their Trinity River project. Unlike the Fort Worth project, the Dallas one makes sense, as in there is a huge flood plain that just sits there right now as open land, that will become a huge recreational lake, with 3 big signature, iconic image worthy bridges, crossing the lake into downtown Dallas.

In Fort Worth, which is not quite as enlightened a democracy as Dallas, and where the concepts of conflict of interest and nepotism hold no meaning, the son of Fort Worth's congresswoman, Kay Granger, he being J.D Granger, is earning $110,000 a year running the Trinity Uptown Project, which is what the Fort Worth boondoggle is known as.

One of Fort Worth's good politicians, former City Councilman, Clyde Picht, who has long opposed the boondoggle that the people of Fort Worth have not voted for, said the appointment of Granger's son is "asking for criticism" and that his knowledge of water district issues is "certainly more limited than most people."

Among the many aspects of this project that puzzle me, one is, I don't get how a Ruling Junta can ram through such a massive civic works project, one that involves taking its citizen's businesses and homes, without letting the citizens vote on the project. How is that legal?

And now the Fort Worth City Council is going to have a citywide conversation with the citizens of Fort Worth? And listen to them? If the past is an indicator of the future, if the citizens get feisty with the Mayor and the rest of the Ruling Junta, Mike Moncrief will simply walk away.

Without listening.

Meerkat Manor: The Next Generation

Amazing Race is my favorite reality TV show. Meerkat Manor is a close second.

Meerkat Manor is all about a family of Meerkats known as the Whiskers and their travails in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. The last season of Meerkat Manor's most dramatic plot point was the murder by a cobra of the Whisker's dominant female, the Queen of the Kalahari known as Flower.

After Flower's murder, her daughter, Rocket Dog, took over. Flower's widower, Zaphod, found himself no longer the top dog in the manor and had to stoop to doing menial chores, like babysitting, til he finally decided to head out on a search for a new mate.

Zaphod almost successfully nailed another Meerkat Mob's top mama, but he was thwarted before he could get the job done.

Zaphod then made it back to the Whiskers. If I remember right that is about where we left the Whiskers when the last season ended. A new season called Meerkat Manor: The Next Generation is supposed to start June 6 on Animal Planet.

Below is a YouTube tribute to Flower.

Memorial Day and the Last Doughboy, Frank Buckles

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. The holiday first came to be to honor Union soldiers after the Civil War. After World War I the holiday was changed to honor all veterans of all of America's wars.

Speaking of World War I. Frank Woodruff Buckles is the last known American-born veteran of the First World War. Mr. Buckles was only 16 when he convinced an enlister that he was 21.

Mr. Buckles did not get stuck in the trenches during the war. He was stationed stateside, then the UK, France and Germany where he helped return prisoners of war back to Germany.

Frank Buckles was born February 1, 1901 which makes him one of the few men who were alive for both turn of the century September 01 terrorist attacks, that being the September 14, 1901 anarchist terrorist assassination of President William McKinley and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

At 107 years old Frank Buckles still fires on all cylinders, daily giving interviews. He thinks the worst president in his lifetime is not George W. Bush, or Richard Nixon, but his very first president, that being the aforementioned William McKinley. Why, I do not know.

Mr. Buckley lifts weight daily and does about 50 sit-ups each morning in addition to his stretching routine.

Mr. Buckley has said he believes America should only go to war "when it's an emergency." He met President Bush at the White House on March 6, 2008. I don't know if Mr. Buckle let Mr. Bush know what he thought about the War in Iraq.

Frank Buckle wanted to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. But he was not eligible. Friends and family took up his cause and eventually Ross Perot learned that Frank Buckle was being denied an Arlington burial. Within 2 weeks Mr. Perot had the White House giving Frank Buckle special approval to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dick Martin Laughed Out

This blogging falls into the category of time quickly passing and feeling old. This morning's surprise was to learn that Dick Martin was 86 when he died yesterday after a long bout of respiratory problems.

I was just a young whippersnapper when Dick Martin became known to pretty much everyone in America due to his super hit TV show known as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. There had been nothing on TV like Laugh-In prior to its debut in 1968.

It was the 1960s, the Hippie era of Love-Ins and Be-Ins. Hence, Laugh-In. Laugh-In had a psychedelic look to it and seemed very fast paced compared to what we were used to seeing on TV. Dick Martin and Dan Rowan were sort of the hosts, sort of observing the nuttiness around them with Dan Rowan being the straight man to Dick Martin's not so straight man. Laugh-In is where America first met Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin. And Tiny Tim and his Tiptoe Through the Tulips song.

Laugh-In brought all sortsa things to American culture. Catch phrases like "Verrrry Interesting!" "I didn't know that." "Easy for you to say!" "Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall!" "Go to your room!" "You bet your sweet bippy!" "Here comes de' Judge!" "Beautiful downtown Burbank!" "Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" "I just wanna swing!" "Blow in my ear and I'll follow you anywhere!" "Now that's a no-no!" "The devil made me do it!"

And the most famous Laugh-In catch phrase of all obviously is "Sock it to me!" Hubert Humphrey believed he lost to Nixon because Hubert declined being on Laugh-In, while Nixon agreed and to the amusement of the nation we got to see and hear Nixon say "Sock it to me?", turning the phrase into a quizzical question.

Dick Martin's sidekick, Dan Rowan, died in 1987. Over 20 years ago. Time flies way too fast.

Heading to New York via Athens

It is Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. I'm in Texas. I've not done anything new and different in way too long. Or gone somewhere I've not been.

So, I think I'll take off for Athens and then go on to New York. I've not been to Athens before. It's supposed to be scenic.

Athens is about 30 miles south of Canton. Canton is about 100 miles east of Fort Worth. New York is about 13 miles east of Athens, near Lake Palestine.

So, what's the attraction in going to the Texas version of New York City you ask? Well, there's this Guided Adventure Tour thing with 6 ziplines called NY TX Zip Line Adventures. "Sky-High Thrills---Texas Style." I've long thought ziplines look fun, ever since seeing them on The Amazing Race.

From the NY Tex Zip Line Adventures website----

"Leave your fears behind..............as you experience the thrill of a lifetime at New York, Texas ZipLine Adventures. You will be on a guided adventure tour with 6 ziplines topped off with some of the most breathtaking 30-plus mile views of the East Texas Countryside. Your zipline adventure will take you soaring through towering pines, hardwoods and high above the rocky hillside of one of the highest elevations in East Texas."

Doesn't that sound fun? The New York area of Texas is known as the Piney Woods Region. It's the part of Texas that to me looks the most like parts of Western Washington, hilly and green with trees.

Hillary & the RFK Assassination

A brouhaha erupted on Friday over some unfortunate Hillary words. Campaigning in South Dakota Hillary was meeting with the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader when she was questioned about why she was staying in the race.

Hillary: "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know, I just, I don't understand it," she said in regards to abandoning the race.

Well, I sort of understand the reason for the brouhaha, what with raising the spectre of Barack Obama possibly being assassinated and thus, with her still in the race, I guess that would mean she would get the nomination by default. Or so her thinking goes.

I'd figured that Hillary was gonna keep plugging away gambling on the hope that gaffe prone Obama would commit a Super Gaffe between now and August, something that the supportive media would not be able to ignore, unlike when Obama said multiple times, with no sense of the obvious wrongness, that over 10,000 people had died in a tornado that struck a small Kansas town. Or recently when Obama let it be known he did not know how many states were in America when he said he'd been to all 57 states during his campaign. Does he think some of the Canadian provinces are states? Has anyone asked him.

Now, with Hillary's, to me, minor gaffe, this was not the first time she said the RFK thing. Back in March, in an interview in TIME magazine, she said pretty much the exact same thing. No brouhaha erupted that time though. Why? I can't help but wonder.

Impeach Bush?

On Friday, in front of the White House, presidential wannabe, Ralph Nader, called for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Ralph said George has, "dishonored the White House and brought a pattern of waste."

A meager crowd of supporters held signs like "Resign Bush-Cheney, Like Nixon-Agnew" and "From Katrina to Iraq, Colossal Failure."

Nader claimed Bush and Cheney are currently committing 5 impeachable offenses on a daily basis.

1) Criminal use of offense against Iraq.
2) Condoned and approved systematic torture.
3) Arresting thousands of Americans, then denying them habeas corpus and violating attorney/client privilege.
4) Signing 800 signing statements, precluding the president from actually having to follow the laws he signs.
5) The systematic spying on Americans without judicial approval.

I don't quite get #3. Thousands of Americans have been arrested? Why was I not informed of this? Who are they? Why were they arrested?

During my time on the planet there have been 2 impeachment attempts. Richard Nixon got in trouble being involved in a break-in at the Watergate. And then plotting to cover up the crime. No one died due to Watergate as far as I know. There were some other impeachment issues with Nixon other than Watergate, but none of those would have brought on impeachment hearings on their own without the Watergate Scandal. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.

Bill Clinton was impeached over lying under oath regarding his nasty shenanigans with Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky. The Clinton impeachment, in hindsight, seems terribly stupid and wrong. Though it was sadly entertaining at the time. And, again, no one died due to Clinton's little fib while under oath.

And now you have our current president. Believed by the majority of Americans to be woefully incompetent. Incompetence is not an impeachable offense. Maybe it should be. Of Nader's 5 impeachable offenses the only one that seems impeachment worthy is the Iraq debacle. As in why has there been no investigation into all the misinformation that was spewed by the administration to justify our first war ever where we were not the victims of an aggression, but were instead the aggressor?

In the words of Gerald Ford, his first spoken after taking over for Nixon, come next January it will be a happy day for America when our long national nightmare is over. If impeachment could hasten that day, that would likely be a good thing.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Before yesterday I had not watched a movie in a theater this century. That would still be true had I not come into possession of a free movie pass that included a bucket of popcorn with a large Pepsi.

And so, in the same way I suffered Six Flags over Texas, twice, due to free passes, I suffered the new Indiana Jones movie.

Suffer, I say, because it was like being stuck on a multi-hour roller coaster ride. I gave up roller coasters for life back in 2000.

I enjoyed, for the most part, the previous Indiana Jones movies, particularly the first one, Raiders of the Lost Ark. I did not care for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for much the same reason Indian Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull wore out its welcome, that being both being way too frenetic. And ridiculous.

The new Indiana Jones movie is set in 1957, so for villains we get Soviet KGB baddies instead of evil Nazis, with the KGB baddies led by Irina Spalko, aka Cate Blanchett. The movie starts in Nevada where Mr. Jones miraculously survives a nuclear bomb blast. This after he'd discovered a crate holding the remains of an ET.

With the arrival of ET, early on in the movie, I had concerns with where the movie was heading. Where it was heading turned out to be Peru, after a guy named Mutt Williams, aka Shia LaBeouf, a shortie with a Brandoesque puffed up pompadour, tells Indy that an old colleague, Harold Oxley, aka John Hurt, has gone missing whilst looking for a crystal skull in Peru where he is not missing, but is locked up, nutsy kookoo, in a Peru insane asylum.

The powers of the skull were explained, but it was far too convoluted for me to remember. Suffice to say it had something to do with some long ago Conquistador and it has some supposed mystical powers that the Soviets want to acquire, much like the Nazis' desire for that Lost Ark.

Indy gets help from his girlfriend from the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Marion Ravenwood, aka Karen Allen. She's aged fairly well over the last 20 so years. During one of the many laborious, yet well done vehicle chases, Marion reveals to Indy that Mutt is his son. Didn't see that one coming.

Eventually Mr. Jones and his crew end up in a Mayan temple with 13 crystal skeletons. one missing its head. There's triple cross by a character I should have mentioned earlier, an old Indiana crony named Mac, who is a double agent pretending to work for the Soviets and then when they are in the Mayan temple Mac reveals he really is working for the Soviets, making him a triple agent.

Then the KGB baddie, Spalko, puts the crystal skull on the skeleton with the missing head. The skeleton then begins to talk. In an ancient Mayan dialect which Indy is able to translate. Something about a great gift. Spalko demands to know more, so the skeleton starts shooting info into her eyes. Which causes her to shake.

A portal to another dimension opens over the room. Oxley regains his sanity and matter of factly explains that the aliens travel between dimensions and taught the Mayans their advanced technology (the Mayans had advanced technology? What? TVs and airplanes?). Indy, Marion and their son, Mutt, narrowly escape the temple as the Soviet triple agent, Mac, gets sucked to another world.

The skeletons then morph into a single alien being that overflows the KGB baddie, Spalko, with too much knowledge, killing her. (I've always believed knowing too much was deadly)

And then as the temple falls apart, a flying saucer rises above the rubble and takes off into space. (I'm not making this up)

Indiana Jones is then made Associate Dean of the Archaeology Department. And marries Marion. ET did not attend the wedding.

Yet One More Fort Worth Star-Telegram Basher

Currently 65% of my thousands of readers want me to continue bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Lord knows it deserves it. And Lord knows I love to be obliging. But sometimes I am just not able to muster a good healthy level of umbrage over things that are very umbrage-worthy.

So, today I will use a Guest Star-Telegram Basher. Before I get to that, I must tell you that awhile back the Startlegram (misspelling intended, that's what locals often call this paper) had a makeover to supposedly improve the paper's readability. This changed the look of the paper and made it more in line with its content. As in it now it both looks and reads like a very small town newspaper, not the newspaper of record of a city of almost 700,000 people.

And then a few months ago, as the Startlegram continued to bleed money, and lose subscribers, they did a cost cutting move. They cut back on features, axed columns and fired employees, including their liaison with their readers, David House. These moves made the paper even thinner and even faster to read. As in there is much less to read.

And so, in today's Startlegram, in a Letter to the Editor, a reader from Arlington voiced his disdain regarding the Startlegram's plummeting quality.

Here is that letter-----

Voice of Reason Lost

I think the Star-Telegram has a death wish.

First, the management dumbed down and tarted up the format so that it looks like the My Weekly Reader that I read in elementary school.

Then, in an apparent effort to attract young readers, it emasculated the opinions section and changed another section heading from “Business” to “Work and Money.” Why not change from “Sports” to “Fun and Games”?

I find myself more and more reading opinions on The New York Times’ Web site. I didn’t think of doing that before the “new and improved” Star-Telegram debuted.

You’ve offended serious readers and haven’t attracted new, young readers. So what do you do when circulation nose-dives? Cut payroll costs.

This resulted in the final blow to mature, serious readers: Management, in an effort to appease the bean-counters, terminated several senior staff members, notably ombudsman David House.

David was a loyal supporter of the Star-Telegram. I had many conversations with him about the direction that the paper was taking, and he always defended management’s decisions. Too bad the loyalty didn’t cut both ways.

His was a voice of reason and one to whom many readers expressed their concerns. He was a good reader advocate and will be sorely missed by readers who actually read the paper.

— Brian Fels, Arlington

David Cook Wins American Idol

It is late. I am seeing if I can semi-coherently do this blogging thing when it's bedtime. Likely not.

So, despite earlier saying I was not going to watch the finale of American Idol, I did catch the last 5 minutes.

One of the reasons I wasn't interested in watching was the so over the top pimping of the little high school David guy, last name Archeletta. On Tuesday the judges made it seem like the other David, Cook, was doggy doo-doo. And that Archeletta was a shoo-in. That seemed the consensus everywhere.

I remember thinking if there is any sense of good ol' American Justice in the viewing public this should piss them off and those fools who actually vote will vote for the Cook option. Cook is the one I earlier said, early on in the season, that he reminded me of one of my runty, ugly cousins.

And it's not just me who, early on, did not see anything positive about David Cook. That obnoxious, though amusing, Brit, Simon Cowell, early on told the one who used to look like my runty, ugly cousin, that he had no charisma.

Well, the one who used to look like my runty, ugly cousin is the winner, by millions of those pseudo votes which determine the winner, you know, votes where people can vote over and over again.

David Archelleta seemed to take the loss well. His dad, not so well.

Dallas Cowboy Scandal Feedback

A week or so I YouTubed a video of the current state of the Dallas Cowboy stadium construction, interspersed with photos of the rubble of all the homes, apartments and businesses destroyed by Jerry Jones and the City of Arlington's Bulldozer Blitzkrieg in the worst case of eminent domain abuse in American history.

YouTube lets viewers make comments about the videos. The Dallas Cowboy Stadium video has gotten several. I'll share a few and stick the video in question down below.

COMMENT #1
"Corporate greed eh? do you have any idea how much revinue is going to be brought in the entire region by that stadium? can you even comprehend the economic impact to the town? You are a propagnda extremist and not very well educated."

(Is this a Canadian I can't help but wonder? What with that "eh?" at the end of his first sentence. I've been bitch slapped by a Canadian? That hurts. The poor Cheesehead seems unaware that the existing Cowboy stadium, in Irving, has not brought any great impact to that town. The area around the current Cowboy stadium is pretty much devoid of development. This person is right about one thing though, as in it is pretty obvious I am not very well educated.)

COMMENT #2 (responding to the Canadian's comment)
"I'd guess this spelling/grammar challenged fool, with a simplistic concept of the economic impact of a football stadium, has been told many a time that he/she is not very well educated. Or just plain stupid."

COMMENT #3
"I'm as disgusted as you are about what was done in Arlington to get the Cowboys a new stadium. Don't these morons realize this isn't how this type thing is done in the rest of the country? Eminent domain exists so that the public can take private land for the public good. Like roads, hospitals and schools. Not for football stadiums. A person should be secure in their home and should be removed from their home for only the best of reasons."

COMMENT #4 (from one of Jerry Jones' victims)
"Thank you for this. My family were among the Dallas Cowboy's and Jerry Jones victims. We were forced out of our home of over 25 years. I will never forgive or forget this. A stadium could have been built without doing this to people. There is plenty of open land in Arlington. The shame of this will forever stain the town of Arlington and the Dallas Cowboys with Jerry Jones answering to God, in the unlikely chance that that it is to heaven he is going when he dies."

Hamilton Jordan, Ted Kennedy, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars & Hillary

Once again this morning I was freshly reminded that I am old. I was surprised to learn Jimmy Carter's chief of staff and long time aide, Hamilton Jordan, was dead after a long battle against lymphoma and prostate cancer. He was 63.

When Hamilton Jordan was in the national spotlight he was a young guy, in his early 30s, which is how I still remembered him. The Carter years don't seem all that long ago. But they were.

And then we have Ted Kennedy's Saturday's hospitalization for a suspected stroke turn into him having the worst type of brain cancer, that being malignant glioma, with a very bleak prognosis and limited treatment options. Some are lamenting this being the latest case of the Kennedy curse. I think not. Teddy Kennedy has lived a long life. It is a sad thing though. I hope he bucks the odds.

Moving to the frivolous. Last night I managed to watch pretty much the entire hour of the American Idol semi-finale. I don't care who wins, either David, Archeletta or Cook. I don't think I can make it through the 2 hour finale tonight. I don't think I could make it through it even if I cared who won. Or if I thought it mattered.

Kristi Yamaguchi won Dancing with the Stars last night. I did not watch it, though I sort of like that show. I like watching people do something that I'm pretty sure I could not do, no matter how much training or practice I put in. But there was no way I was going to watch that show's inflated 2 hour finale.

Moving from the ridiculous to the semi-sublime. Hillary beat Obama badly in Kentucky. While Obama beat Hillary not so badly in Oregon. Obama is very near having enough delegates to win the nomination, needing about 77 more. Hillary vowed last night to continue til every possible voter, of the remaining few, has the chance to vote for her.

I wish Hillary as good a luck as she deserves. Same to Ted Kennedy. Lesser so to the 2 finalists on American Idol, I just don't care this year. Did I care other years? I don't remember.

The Bachelorette 4: Ugh

No. That is not me surrounded by a bevy of beauties. It's someone named Brad Womack. I learned of Brad Womack last night when I lasted about 20 minutes into ABC's The Bachelorette 4.

Apparently Brad Womack is the only bachelor on one of the Bachelor shows to reject all the women. Of his rejectees, the last one rejected, was DeAnna Pappas. In 6 short weeks, with cameras running, and relatively little time together, she'd decided she was madly in love with this Womack guy. And ready to marry him.

Last night it seemed to me that Brad Womack was made out to be some sort of Bad Man who'd broken not only DeAnna's heart, but the hearts of her family and friends and also all of America. I mean those few in America who watched. Now, to me, this Womack guy is the most sane person to have been on one of these type shows. I mean, if after only 6 weeks I had some woman, I barely knew, professing her crazy love for me, and desire to marry me, I'd search for the nearest hill to run to.

Poor DeAnna is sure she is going to find true love. Again. In six weeks. Because this time she is in charge.

You may remember that yesterday we learned that this show is loaded with Texans. Thus giving us in Texas a reason to watch. Well, before I bailed, it appeared to me that the Texas connections were ringers for an early boot. As in they seemed to have some serious personality issues. The Texans were not alone in that regard.

I hope DeAnna does not get her heart broken again. Although, apparently that makes for good television. I won't be watching.

Carrot Top

Some well meaning, I am sure, but, in reality, very rude person, sent me these two photos of the comedian known as Carrot Top.

The accompanying note said I was to take these photos as a cautionary warning as to what will happen to me if I don't stop with the heavy duty workouts and the muscle building steroids.

In the photo on the right it appears Carrot Top is using eye liner. It's been decades since I've used eye liner. And my hair has never been red. And I don't do heavy duty workouts or use steroids.

I take it as some sort of backhanded compliment that my rude correspondent assumed I did. I guess.

World's Tallest Cow? In Texas?

A couple days ago I blogged about the Tallest Cow in the World. Well, actually, I later learned it wasn't a cow, but a steer. Apparently a steer has never been a cow, but is instead a bull who has lost some important body parts.

The supposed, not yet confirmed by Guinness, Tallest Cow is in Britain.

As the Whole World knows everything is Bigger in Texas and that Texans are prone to spinning Tall Tales, so it just seemed to me that there had to be a creature of the bovine persuasion, in Texas, taller than 6 foot 6.

So. Sunday I was up at Lake Grapevine, hiking the Knob Hills Trail. A herd of longhorns roams free in that area. They are friendly beasts, though they look dangerous.

One of the longhorns looked rather tall to me. I had no measuring stick with me. I don't know if the longhorn was a cow, bull or steer. I did not get a good look at its backside.

As you can see, from the photo above, the longhorn appears to be about a foot taller than me. That'd make it about 7 feet tall, 8 feet tall if you consider the horns.

Do I need to contact the Guinness people?

ABC's The Bachelorette 4 & Texas

Go here for this morning's blogging about last night's Bachelorette final episode.

I admit that I do enjoy some of the reality shows. My favorite is Amazing Race. My least favorite of the genre is the bizarre find a mate reality shows. The first of that type, I believe, was ABC's The Bachelor. I did not watch it.

I believe one of the girls who got rejected from the first Bachelor then became The Bachelorette. That lucky bachelorette's name is Trista. She picked her bachelor and became one of the few to actually move on to getting married and having a baby. Usually the relationships on these shows is over by the time the show airs.

The Bachelor format has become a sort of plague on TV. There is currently one on the CW Network where a lonely farmer can't find a wife and so he somehow ended up on a show called The Farmer Wants a Wife. I've not watched it.

VH1 has had at least 3 of these find a mate shows. VH1's are particularly twisted. One is called Flavor of Love. It is currently running. I don't know, or care, if it's a fresh look for love. Or a re-run. Flavor of Love's love seeker is this guy I'd not heard of before, a rapper, named Flavor Flav. He'd been on The Surreal Live where he struck up a romance with Sylvester Stallone's ex, Brigitte Nielson. She and Flavor Flav then got their own reality show that was all about their disturbing romance. Brigitte Nielson has since been on yet another VH1 reality show all about celebs in rehab. Apparently Flavor Flav drove her to drink.

One of the rejects on the first Flavor of Love was this awful woman named Tiffany Pollard who called herself New York. She then got her own VH1 find a mate show called I Love New York. The first season's search for a mate ended badly, so there was a season two in which New York found true love with a guy she called Tailor Made. I thought this would surely lead to a follow up show called Tailor Made for New York. But, instead, season 3 will be called New York Goes to Hollywood. I don't know if she goes to Hollywood with Tailor Made.

There have been other meet a mate shows that follow the ABC formula, like a couple of Joe Millionaires, a couple seasons of one called Love or Money. I'm sure there are others that I don't know about or have forgotten.

The only other find a mate reality show I can think of is also on VH1. And it's the worst. Bret Michael's Rock of Love. There have been 2 seasons of this over the hill rocker's search for a good groupie. This one so appalls me I've blogged about it before.

Slight change of subject. I learned of the new Bachelorette show, starting up tonight, when I read this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The paper today managed to mention CBS news guy, Bob Schieffer, without telling us yet one more time that he grew up in Fort Worth, graduated from North Side High School and Texas Christian University. Or that he was born in Austin.

However, in the article about The Bachelorette it's all about the Texas connections. I'll copy it below for your amusement.

"Bachelor also-ran DeAnna Pappas returns, and this time it's her turn to do the choosing. Big North Texas contingent: Brian W., a high school football coach from Fort Worth (he's one of two Brian W.'s---bet that's confusing): Chris, who's in medical sales and is from Fort Worth and lives in Dallas; and Twilley, a debt manager who hails from Tulsa and lives in Dallas. And host Chris Harrison is from Dallas. Sheesh, I might actually have to watch this..."

Sheesh is right.

Newspaper Content, Bias and Credibility

No. Even though 65% of my thousands of readers are currently wanting me to keep bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this isn't totally about that. Sadly, I saw nothing in this week's Sunday Star-Telegram that annoyed me, other than it being the smallest Sunday paper I've ever seen. But that's the case every week.

So, yesterday I came upon a website called Mondo Newspapers that covers the top 100 American newspapers in depth, based on readership data from the Newspaper Association of America. The order on the list is determined by circulation. This, unfortunately, made USA Today the #1 paper in America.

#2 is the Wall Street Journal with a circulation of 5,147,565 with its content rated very good, its political bias leaning right and its credibility high.

The Dallas Morning News is #12 with a circulation of 1,086,383 with its content rated very good, it's political bias leaning left and its credibility rated high.

Meanwhile on the west side of the D/FW Metroplex the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is #45 with a circulation of 532,774 with its content rated average, its political bias liberal and its credibility moderate. I would have rated its credibility low, but what do I know?

Seattle has 2 major papers, the Seattle Times is #39 with a circulation of 564,028, with its content rated average, its political bias leaning left and its credibility moderate. Just like the Star-Telegram. However, the Seattle P-I, #41 with a circulation of 428,245 is also rated average for content, with a left leaning political bias, with the P-I's credibility rated high. Unlike the Star-Telegram.

Seattle's population is a bit over 500,000 in a metro area of about 2.5 million. Seattle's 2 papers have a combined circulation of 992,273. Fort Worth has a population of about 670,000 in a metro area of about 6 million. Yet the Star-Telegram only circulates 532,774 papers daily. I don't know what to conclude from this, but I do remember Seattle being named as having America's highest number of book buyers and library users. So, maybe more people know how to read up there and so the town is able to support 2 major newspapers.

I won't bore you any more than I already have by listing the stats for more newspapers. Suffice to say there are other newspapers besides the Seattle P-I, Dallas Morning News and WS Journal who rank high for credibility. That quality is also shared by the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post and others I'm sure. I'm too lazy to look at each of the 100 on the list.

Men Who Look Like Lesbians

This morning I looked at Google's Hot Trends list. The Hot Trends is what people are searching for. One of the Top 100 was "Men Who Look Like Lesbians." This seemed somehow sort of politically incorrect to me. And so it interested me. There are entire blogs and websites devoted to this subject.

And the #1 Man Lesbian on pretty much everyone's list is Bruce Jenner. There seems to be a consensus that no good comes from a man getting an eyelift. That and some men need to get testosterone booster shots when they reach a certain age.

All this seems sort of rude to me. Yet I do recollect blogging about Bruce Jenner's reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and I do recollect commenting that Bruce and his butch wife look like a middle-aged lesbian couple. I've yet to find out how, besides his reality show, Bruce gets the money to live his extravagant lifestyle. I suspect he may have gotten a huge settlement from the plastic surgeon who botched his face.

Below, in no particular order, are some of the men who those devoted to this subject think look like semi-old lesbians. Some of them I can see why they think this, some others not so much.

Kyle MacLachlan

Clay Aiken

Rod Stewart

Roger Ebert

Tom Cruise

Matthew McConaughey

Bill Gates

Barry Manilow

Robert Redford

Paul McCartney

Al Franken

George W. Bush

Dennis Leary

Don Imus

Jon Bon Jovi

Ted Kennedy Has a Stroke.

No joke, he's had a stroke. Earlier in the week it made me feel like Rip Van Winkle to read that James Garner was 80 and that he had a stroke. And now to read that Teddy Kennedy is 76 and that this morning he was rushed from the Kennedy's Hyannisport Compound to Massaschussets General Hospital in Boston.

It seems like we've gone awhile without a sad thing happening to the Kennedy's. We are coming up on the June 6 anniversary of Bobby Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

Teddy has had some health issues. He has a slight weight problem. Last October he was operated on to remove a blockage in a neck artery. He has been on high blood pressure and cholesterol meds. Teddy has had a bad back ever since a plane crash in 1964, compounded by an accident that required a lot of alleged swimming and diving that is known as The Chappaquiddick Incident. After driving off a bridge into the Atlantic Ocean, Kennedy testified to diving 7 or 8 times in attempts to rescue his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. When he decided it was fruitless Kennedy swam to shore, exhausted, with an aching back.

I hope both Teddy and James Garner have full recoveries.

Month of May Memorial Day Texas Festivals

Today I'm going on my first BBQ Picnic of the year. We are in the sweet spot temperature wise here in Texas right now. Not too HOT, not too cold. Perfect picnic weather.

Texans aren't quite the outdoorsy sorts I was used to up in Washington. Parks and picnic tables are empty much of the year. Likely weather related. But come Memorial Day it seems pretty much every Texan is outside at a picnic table. A few years ago, on Memorial Day, I looked for a picnic table in 6 different parks before I finally found one.

So, start hunting early on Memorial Day if you want to be sure to have a picnic table with something to burn wood in.

One of the many things Texas does really well is the small town Texas Festival, Fair and Parade. I've been to parades in Fort Worth, Arlington, Granbury and Ennis. All good. I really like Granbury's festivals and parades. I've been to General Granbury's Birthday and Granbury's 4th of July. In Texas they somehow are able to get high school kids to participate, everyone from cheerleaders to the marching band to the football team. The Arlington 4th of July Parade had at least 4 high school's marching bands. Impressive.

The Ennis National Polka Festival is another good one. The parade is very amusing. My chief researcher sent me info about some of the upcoming Texas events, including the Ennis Polka Festival, with all the details you could possibly need. I'll copy that below.

May 23-25, 2008 - FESTIVAL - Ennis: 42nd Annual National Polka Festival. National Polka Festival celebrates Ennis' Czech heritage with 13 live polka bands, Polkfest 5K run, Czech food, horseshoe tournament, king and queen dance, arts, crafts, special country concert and more. Time: Fri. 7-11pm, Sat 10am-12:30am, Sun. 11am-11pm. Cost: Free for downtown activities; $7-11 per day for admission to dance halls. Location: Downtown Ennis and at KC Hall, Sokol Hall, and KJT Hall in Ennis. Region: Texas Prairies and Lakes. Average attendance: under 50,000. For more information, call 972-878-4748 or visit http://www.visitennis.org/; http://www.nationalpolkafestival.com/. Held annually, Memorial Day Weekend.

May 23-24, 2008 - FESTIVAL - Fredericksburg: Crawfish Festival. Join us for great Cajun food, music and fun. Mouth-watering crawfish plates, red potatoes, corn, Jambalaya & fried fish plates. Kids area, shopping area. Time: Friday 6pm-12 midnight, Saturday 11am-12 midnight. Cost: $6 Adults, $1 for kids 12/Under. Two-day passes $10. Location: Marktplatz, 100 block, West Main Street. Region: Texas Hill Country. Average attendance: under 50,000. For more information, call 1-866-TEX-FEST (839-3378) or visit http://www.tex-fest.com/. Held annually, Memorial Day Weekend.

May 23-25, 2008 - EXHIBIT - Kerrville: 5th Annual TX Masters of Fine Art & Craft Invitational Exhibition. A high-quality exhibition of 20 of the finest professional artists and craftspeople from all over Texas. Reception May 24 from 2-4pm. Time: Fri. 12-8pm.; Sat. 10am-8pm.; Sun. 10am-6pm. Cost: no admission charge. Location: Y.O. Resort Hotel, 2033 Sidney Baker, Kerrville. Region: Texas Hill Country. Average attendance: under 50,000. For more information, call (214) 328-6382 or visit http://www.texasmasters.com/.

May 23-25, 2008 - SPORTING EVENT - Bandera: Cowboy Capital Rodeo Association Pro Rodeo. Performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, at Mansfield Park, Bandera, Texas. Cost: yes. Location: Mansfield Park. Region: Texas Hill Country. Average attendance: under 50,000. For more information, call 830-796-7207 or visit http://www.banderarodeo.com/. Held annually, end of May.

May 23-25, 2008 - FESTIVAL - Llano: 3rd Annual "Texas Proud" Festival. Gunfighters, varmints, chuckwagons, trail bosses, John Wayne and more turn Llano into a Texas Living History happening. Time: All day. Cost: none. Location: Main Street. Region: Texas Hill Country. Average attendance: under 50,000. For more information, call 325-247-5354 or visit http://www.llanochamber.org/. Held annually, 3rd weekend in May.

May 23-26, 2008 - FESTIVAL - Bandera: The Best In Texas Festival And Chili Cook Off. An annual festival celebrating all the things that make Texas great. Fun for the whole family including Great Texas Music, Arts, Crafts, Cook Offs, Carnival Rides, Food and Libations. Each day includes performances by several of the best bands Texas has to offer on two stages. Time: Friday Times Vary Daily. Cost: One day tickets - $30 for any 1 day. Location: Bandera Downs 2303 State Hwy 16, Bandera, TX. 78003. Region: Texas Hill Country. Average attendance: under 50,000. For more information, call 972-690-6099 or visit http://www.bestintexasfest.com/. Held Annually, Memorial Day Weekend.

May 23-26, 2008 - FAIR - Kerrville: The Official Texas State Arts & Crafts Fair. A four-day fair full of arts, crafts, live music, food and fun for the whole family. Ceramics, pottery, glass, wood, jewelry, metalwork, photography and more from Craftsmen around TX. Time: Fri 4-8pm.; Sat/Sun 10am-6pm.; Mon. 10am-4pm. Cost: see web site. Location: River Star Arts & Event Park, 4000 Riverside Dr., Kerrville. Region: Texas Hill Country. Average attendance: 50,000-200,000. For more information, call (830) 896-5711 or visit http://www.tacef.org/. Annual event held over Memorial Day weekend.

Bubbly Lulu's Bubble Bracelets

One of my very best non-Texas friends used to be Lulu.

I may have mentioned Lulu before. Lulu's Headquarters is up in Tacoma.

I'll be seeing Lulu in a couple months when I arrive to perform an important duty. And see my mom and dad whom I've not seen in over 2 years.

Lulu is well known in the Northwest as an Arts and Craftster and as a Flea Market Diva.

Lulu is currently getting ready for a big show, something called the Farm Chicks, in Spokane.

Lulu has a new hit item made with these things she calls Bubble Charms. Most of Lulu's stuff I don't quite get. But I think these Bubble things look cool.

Lulu keeps getting hit with fresh orders for Bubble Necklaces and Bubble Bracelets. A couple days ago she was moaning about a new huge order from a gallery in Seattle.

UPDATE: After my disastrous visit to Tacoma in July and August I had no choice but to terminate my business and personal relationship with Lulu. I wish her well in the rest of her life. But it will be without me in it.

Plano Texas Prestonwood Baptist Church Minister Sex Scandal

Can we not go a week here in Texas without a church scandal? There is just way too much of it. I know part of the reason it seems like a non-stop series of scandals is you have about 6 million people living in this relatively small area. As in there are more people living in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex than the entire state of Washington.

So, you read about any crime thing that happens in a 50 mile radius. In Washington I could be oblivious about something happening in Spokane. I never knew about the Spokane Serial Killer til I read a book about it a couple months ago. My side of the mountains focused on the Green River Killer while the Spokane Killer was not on the radar. In all the years I've been in the D/FW zone I don't recollect a single serial killer.

But, there have been plenty of ministers doing dirty deeds. The latest one is Prestonwood Baptist Minister, Joe David Barron, 52. He drove 3 hours from Plano to Bryan, Texas, armed with condoms, to have sex with a 13 year old girl. Plano is a suburb north of Dallas near where J.R. Ewing pretended to live at Southfork. Police searched Joe David's car and found the condoms. And some religious CDs.

Do none of these perps ever watch To Catch a Predator on TV?

In Texas they have these gigantic churches called megachurches. That is the interior of Prestonwood Baptist on the right. The megachurches are sort of shocking the first time you see them. There is one church compound on Lake Eaglemountain that has its own airstrip and fleet of planes. It's been the source of many a scandal. But no sex scandals that I can recall.

The Prestonwood Baptist Megachurch has over 26,000 members, with 40 ministers. One less now. I hope.

Ellen and Portia Getting Married in California

I mentioned yesterday that California had joined Texas in allowing same sex marriages. The Texas method is very informal. But in California you can now do the whole Big Wedding thing with a license and all the trimmings.

So, rumor has it that longtime Funny Girl Ellen DeGeneres and longtime Pretty Girl Portia de Rossi apparently became engaged during the Friday taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

As some of you know, I spent some time as a lesbian back in 2000. It was a happy time. During my time as a woman I never met anyone I wanted to get married to though, certainly no one as cute as Ellen and Portia, Portia especially. I remember when she showed up as the HOT new girl on Ally McBeal.

I wonder if these new type celebrity marriages are going to be fodder for some new reality shows? I imagine VH1 is exploring the possibilities even as I type. MTV already had a Bachelor type lesbian find a mate show called A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. Now, a fresh Shot at Love could end in marriage. On the Tila Tequila show it could end in a conventional wedding because Tila swung 2 ways. Half her possible mates were guys, half were girls.

It was a very tasteful show. Tila's been in Penthouse and hosted a show called Pants-Off Dance-Off. I did not see that one. Nor do I think I care to.

Tila Tequila was raised in Houston. That's in Texas. I don't recollect the Fort Worth Star-Telegram pointing that out over and over again. They must have been ashamed by that particular local connection.

Chamberlain, Hitler, Appeasement and an Idiot Named Kevin James

Pet Peeve. Loudmouth know-it-alls who spout clueless nonsense. King George yesterday in Israel made reference to the appeasement of Hitler in 1938. Bush was a tad non-specific on the details, but it sounded like it was a dig at Obama.

Last night on Hardball on MSNBC Chris Matthews had 2 guests, one of whom was a conservative radio yammerer named Kevin James.

Kevin James was really loud with a real loudmouth affect, like he thought the louder he shouted the more his nonsense made sense. He was way too animated which made him seem even stupider.

After a couple minutes of it Chris Matthews had had enough and in one of the more amusing things I've seen of late he asked this Kevin James moron what Neville Chamberlain did in 1938.

It was so obvious this James guy had absolutely no clue as to why the word appeasement and Neville Chamberlain are tied together. He also did not understand that Obama's "talk to our enemies" idea is not what appeasement is.

In other words, Kevin James seems to be yet one more sad example of our need to improve our education system.

How can a grown American not know the history of WWII?

Sadly, I know many, many, many, way too many, don't have a clue about our nation's history. That's how a fear-mongering president can blow way out of proportion a bad problem, that being barbaric, backward terrorists, and cause people to think we are facing the worst enemy we've ever faced.

Today is the best of times compared to the hell that was World War II. There are no Hitlers in today's world who feel they can invade other countries without getting in trouble for it.

The only country that today comes close to Hitlerian Blitzkrieging is the world's sole Hyperpower. There is currently no other nation on earth that would dare launch an invasion and takeover of another country due to the fear that that country might have some dangerous weapons.

So, Obama wants to talk to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not asking to have a section of Afghanistan returned to Iran. Or a piece of Iraq. If he were, and if Neville Obama were to meet with Ahmadinejad several times, discussing the Iranians demands for more land, and if Neville Obama were to give in to the Iranians demands and agree that the Iranian army could occupy the disputed territories, that would be appeasement.

Barack Obama has not said or done anything remotely reflective of appeasement. The United States has a long history of talking to and negotiating with our enemies. We were talking to the Japanese even as bombs began to fall on Pearl Harbor.

A couple weeks ago I finished the longest book I've ever read. John Tolan's biography of Adolf Hiter. It is considered the definitive Hitler biography. I know more now about Hitler than I ever cared to know. I was somehow going to mix into this appeasement missive how America's conquering of the Indians was one of Hitler's inspirations.

I'll save that for another day. In the meantime watch this YouTube video of yesterday's Chris Matthews Smackdown of a foolish tool.

Sonny Graham's Suicidal Heart

On April 1, 2008, 69 year old Sonny Graham of Vidalia, Georgia was found dead in a building in his backyard. Killed by a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

Okay, that's not all that unusual.

The fact that Sonny Graham has lived for 12 years with a heart transplant and yet decided to kill himself makes it a bit more unusual.

It is who Sonny Graham's widow is that makes this a truly bizarre story.

Sonny Graham's transplanted heart came from a man, Terry Cottle, 33, who also committed suicide with a gun.

After Sonny Graham had Terry Cottle's heart ticking in his chest he began writing letters to Cottle's family, including Cottle's widow, Cheryl, age 28.

In 2001 Sonny Graham bought a house for the Widow Cottle and her 4 kids.

In 2004 Sonny Graham retired. And then married Cheryl Cottle.

Four years later Sonny Graham became Cheryl Cottle Graham's second husband to commit suicide with a gun.

Sonny Graham left 6 kids and 6 grandkids behind. Friends and family are stunned that Sonny Graham would kill himself. Sonny Graham was known as a kind, easy going, helpful, good neighbor type of man.

I don't know if the suicidal heart has been transplanted again.

California and Texas Legalize Gay Marriage

California's top court has ruled as unconstitutional the state law banning same-sex marriages.

Why do people get so worked up over this ridiculous issue?

Personally I think the institution of marriage is borderline barbaric and pretty much uncivilized. I see little good coming from the marriages I've seen. And a lot of divorces and unhappy kids. Except for my mom and dad, they are the exception with a perfect marriage and perfect kids.

When I first moved to Texas I was told by Texans that in Texas the way the common law wife thing worked was if you went grocery shopping together, if you got mail delivered at the same location, if you slept under the same roof and if you both liked BBQ then in the Eyes of Texas you are married.

This was problematic for me in my first abode in Texas because there were 2 males and one female living under the same roof, sometimes shopping for groceries together, getting mail in the same mailbox. And we all liked BBQ. When I realized that in the Eyes of Texas I was living in a polygamous situation I quickly moved out.

It was only later I found out the real rules of common-law marriage in Texas. First off, they don't call it common-law. It's called an "informal marriage." According to Texas Code 2,401 an informal marriage can be established either by declaration via registering at the county courthouse, with no ceremony, or by showing evidence of an agreement to be married, and that you are cohabiting in Texas and that you've represented yourself as married to others.

I don't quite get what this declaration at the county courthouse rule is. You stand in front of the courthouse and shout that you're married? I guess that makes sense.

So, though I'm not a lawyer, it would seem to me that Texas has already legalized gay marriage, making Texas yet again at the forefront of social change in America. Despite its unfair reputation for being a repressive, religious state, Texas is extremely progressive and leads the nation in some areas, like letting anyone legally present themselves as married.

Now that I have a clearer understanding of how one can accidentally find oneself married in Texas I must be careful to not go grocery shopping with a certain marriage minded Puerto Rican sort who likes BBQ.

Downtown Fort Worth Video

I just came across this and had to share. I don't think the guy's who made this video intended it to be amusing, but I found it so. It also made me think I need to visit downtown Fort Worth with my video camera. But not today.

Corruption in Fort Worth, Texas?

You non-Texans, I'm going to be writing about Fort Worth here. So, you might want to look away if you don't want to be freshly appalled at how different things are here than how your city and state operates.

Fort Worth started as a Fort. That is sort of obvious. What isn't so obvious is that Fort Worth is run by what amounts to being a Ruling Junta, with little accountability to the good citizens of Fort Worth.

A few years ago it was discovered that natural gas, in shale form, known as the Barnett Shale, was underneath much of north Texas, including Fort Worth. Prior to the drilling beginning, Fort Worth's Ruling Junta installed an oilman named Mike Moncrief as Mayor of Fort Worth. That is Mike Moncrief behind bars in the photo.

Mike Moncrief is a millionaire. He has holdings in all the drilling companies that have been and continue knocking holes in the ground all over Fort Worth.

Last year Mayor Mike Moncrief made an estimated $633,000.00 from his various oil and gas deals.

Now, in pretty much any jurisdiction in the rest of America a mayor would recuse himself from having a say in any public policy matter that affected his holdings. In the rest of the nation this is what is known as a conflict of interest.

In Fort Worth it is known as the status quo.

In a bizarre case of one of the foxes saying the hen house is safe, Fort Worth's Ruling Junta's mouthpiece, that being City Attorney David Yett, said Moncrief's gas and oils deals are not a conflict of interest because no single one of his deals amounts to more than 10% of Moncrief's total income.

Huh?

Moncrief's wife also benefits from all the gas drilling by owning her own stock in one of the drilling companies called XTO.

Fort Worth's Ruling Junta continues to approve of new drilling operations, one of the latest being Chesapeake Energy will be drilling under the heart of downtown Fort Worth thanks to the Bass Family selling them the drilling rights to the parking lots known as Sundance Square.

I don't know what the Mayor of Fort Worth's cut will work out to be for the Sundance Square wells.

And on a totally different, yet related subject. Did you know that these gas wells sometimes blow up? Watch this video of a well explosion 30 miles west of my abode. I saw the smoke plume from this one.

American Idol Final Two

Currently, of my thousands of readers, 69% want me to continue bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, while 61% want me to complain more about TV. Today I'm going to combine the two.

Last night got down to the final two on America's #1 TV show, that being American Idol. The pre-season hype had it that this year's talent was the best ever. But, for me, week by week those left just kept seeming smaller and smaller and weaker and weaker.

By the end it was down to 2 guys and a girl.

The girl had a tendency to shriek, but she did know how to work a stage. I don't remember how to spell the last girl's first name. It starts with an 's' and sounds something like Sigh-eesh-ya. I think the last name is Mercado.

One of the guy's has been pimped to win from the start, that being this really little 17 year old from Utah named David Archeletta. I started off liking him okay, but by the end his shtick had grown old. Apparently he had daddy issues with his dad getting banned from backstage due to causing problems for the little guy. Early on David A. had a tendency to lick his lips while singing that was very Bill Clintonesque. Somehow his trainers got him to stop doing that.

The other guy is also named David. Last name Cook. When I first saw him he reminded me of one of my runty homely cousins. A couple months ago I asked my sister if David Cook reminded her of anyone. She said, yeah, our runty homely cousin (I'm leaving off the name so as to not cause yet one more family feud).

One of the things that can be interesting to see on American Idol is when they make someone over. Like when they turned Clay Aiken from looking like a nerd to not looking so much like a nerd. He was still a nerd though. This year the Mercado girl got greatly made over. And so did the one who used to look like my runty homely cousin. He doesn't look like my runty homely cousin anymore.

This will be my last season of watching American Idol. The amusement/entertainment factor ain't there anymore. I've also bailed on Dancing with the Stars. Also, no more Desperate Housewives. It had grown tiresome and not funny. LOST I watch on the computer because it's in HD and only 42 minutes long without the commercials. I don't even watch The Simpsons anymore. That used to be my favorite. Maybe I am losing my sense of humor. Or I've developed AADD.

Oh. One more thing. At the top I said this would be a combined TV and Bash the Star-Telegram missive. On to the Star-Telegram. And this is also TV related. On the TV page, in the Channel Surfing column we are given yet again the all important how is Texas connected to a show info.

This time it's "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire: Root for the home team as Fort Worth's Kyle Knelp, a University of Texas at Arlington senior, goes for the big money."

I can't wait til tonight so I can do some rooting for the home team.

World's Tallest Cow Not Texan

I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn this afternoon that the World's Tallest Cow is not a Texan. It's not even an American. It's a Brit. A UK cow named Chili.

Chili stands 6 feet 6 inches tall in his bare feet. That is taller than me in my bare feet.

Currently Chili's tall status is not official. The Guinness people are investigating.

Chili weighs over a ton. That is 5,510 8 oz. steaks or 11,020 McDonald's Quarter Pounders. He is a black and white Friesian steer. I'm not all that farm familiar, but I'm fairly certain that a steer has had his gender neutralized, so, I'm thinking that would make Chili no longer a he, I guess 'it' would be more appropriate.

The UK is smaller than Texas. It almost seems some sort of state disgrace for Texas not to have the world's tallest cow.

Currently the largest cow on record is American. A Holstein-Durham named Mount Katahdin. That cow stood 6 feet 2 inches with a girth of 13 feet. I'm not sure what a girth is. Mount Katahdin died in 1923. Seems odd that in all those years, til now, no cow has grown taller than Mount Katahdin.

Surely, somewhere in Texas there must be a cow taller than 6 feet 6 inches. Let the search begin.

UPDATE: A Texan has now claimed to have discovered the Tallest Cow in the World.

Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup

Yes, I know I've mentioned this West Texas festival before. And that it's been 2 months, or so, since this year's roundup occurred. But, I bring this up again because I found a very amusing video of the 2008 Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. Unlike my video of this same event, in this new video the focus is on what goes on outside the building where the rattlesnakes are displayed. This new video focuses on the Texans who attend this event. Although you do see some snake whacking and skinning at the end.

I have long wanted to make a similar video, but my fear of someone getting the urge to beat me up has inhibited me from doing so. Perhaps I will now work up the courage to park in the Super Wal-Mart parking lot for a couple hours taking video of the variously sized, variously dressed Texans I see coming and going.

If you want to see my video of what goes on with the rattlesnakes at the Sweetwater Roundup, go here. Skip that if you like, but be sure and watch the video below. It's funny. Gar the Texan is from West Texas. These are his people. I think I saw some mullets.

The Tony Award Nominations

This isn't actually really totally about the Tony Award Nominations which were announced yesterday.

Extensive polling of my thousands of readers indicates that 66% of those polled want me to continue bashing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

So, even though it is like shooting fish in a barrel and grows tiresome, I'm all about being obliging. And tiresome.

One would think that any and all newspapers in America today would have an article about the Tony Award Nominations. How am I to know what play to see if I'm in New York City next month?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram did not have an article with a list of nominations.

Instead, on the Live! page in the "People Watch" column under the heading "Tony time" we get the following embarrassing typical Star-Telegram goofy nonsense.

"The 2008 Tony nominations were announced Tuesday morning, and the most nominated show, the Latin/hip-hop musical In the Heights was produced by none other than Fort Worth native Mike Skipper, a Richland High School and Texas Wesleyan University graduate. He lives in Graham (Texas), where he is part-owner of the Wildcatter Ranch & Resort. For a complete list of Tony nominees, visit our Pop Culture District blog at star-telegram.com/blogs"

So, this highly fascinating Texas connection is worth putting in the hard copy version of this lame paper, but the actual Tony Award nominations get relegated to a blog.

Meanwhile, according to the Star-Telegram's Channel Surfing column on the TV page we learn that Ross Matthews, aka Ross the Intern on the Tonight Show, will be on Days of Our Lives today.

No. Ross Matthews is not from Texas. He is from my hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington. I looked at my hometown paper and the TV section felt no need to repeat to its readers something along the line of "Mount Vernon native and Mount Vernon High School graduate, Ross Matthews, will be on Days of Our Lives today."

Mount Vernon has a population of less than 30,000. Fort Worth is approaching a population of 700,000. Which town exhibits the small townish mentality? I'll let you decide.

And then on the Letter to the Editor page we get yet one more disgruntled reader bashing the Star-Telegram. This letter writer/paper reader was vexed by a long article in the Star-Telegram devoted to cheerleading at Carrol High School with the first sentence being "Which is sillier: cheerleading at Carrol High School or the Star-Telegram devoting ever more space to it?"

Now, don't forget to watch Days of Our Lives today. Mount Vernon's own, Ross Matthews, native son and MVHS graduate stars in a bit part that will last a few seconds. So, don't blink or you may miss it.

James Garner, Stroke at 80

I was surprised to learn this morning that one of my all time favorite actors, James Garner, is now 80 years old. He suffered a mild stroke on May 9, followed by surgery May 11. Prognosis good.

James Garner being 80 makes me feel very old. In my mind's eye he's a young guy. His Rockford Files TV series is one of my all time favorites. I'm not alone in that regard. The Rockford Files was where famed TV writer Stephen J. Cannell got his reputation for fine, sophisticated, funny writing with believable, real characters and complicated plots that made sense.

James Garner always reminded me of my dad. Tall, dark and handsome with an easy going way about him. Come to think of it, my dad is rapidly approaching 80. In very good health. He was out golfing on Mother's Day with my brother-in-law and nephew. I don't know how he got away with leaving my mom home alone on Mother's Day.

I'm hoping James Garner makes a full recovery and does yet one more Rockford Files TV Movie. I remember reading him say he can't do Rockford anymore due to not being able to run due to bad knees. Rockford in a wheelchair, rather than a Firebird might be amusing. It worked for Perry Mason.

The Fremont Solstice Naked Bike Parade

Yesterday or the day before I mentioned how things are a bit different up in Seattle than here in the D/FW Metroplex.

The Independent Republic of Fremont, in Seattle, has an annual event to celebrate the summer solstice.

Part of this event is a bike ride. Where bike riders are in various states of undress. This has been going on for 20 years and each year it's bigger than the year before.

I have never watched the Fremont Solstice Parade. I have been to Fremont. It's like visiting the former Soviet Union. Complete with statues of Lenin.

Below is video of last year's Fremont Solstice Naked Bike Parade. This year's parade is just a bit more than a month from now. In case you wanna go.

Hillary in West Virginia Primary

I grow tired of so many Democrats saying it's time for Hillary to give up. Neither she nor Obama will likely have enough delegates to win the nomination by the time the final primary closes.

So, what is so wrong with having an old-fashioned convention where the choice is made at the actual convention?

When Ford had more delegates than Reagan heading into the, I think, 1976 Republican Convention, I don't recollect there being cries for Reagan to drop out for the good of the party.

It's only been in recent times that there's this notion that it's to be all wrapped up by the time of the convention. That may be one reason why the conventions have not been as interesting in recent times.

What if it takes a dozen votes before Obama is finally chosen? What would be so bad about that?

The News Goons and Talking Heads would have such a fun time tracking defections and speculating about deals being made.

It would seem the Democrats would come out of the thing stronger, not weaker.

But, I don't really care about that. I just want to see an old-fashioned convention like the good old days. No Chicago type riots though, that would be a bad thing.

Tarzan and Jane Skinny Dipping

By the early 1930's Hollywood movies were really pushing the envelope with very adult content, both theme wise and nudity wise. The complaints from religious fanatics and worried mothers grew so numerous that a thing called the Hays Office was created to censor movies. Censorship lasted until the 1960s when the lid came off and we began down the path that led us to the vulgar state of too many of today's movies. And TV.

I'd long known there was a skinny dipping scene in Tarzan and his Mate. I did not know that Ted Turner restored the censored scene in 1986. In the infamous scene Tarzan throws Jane into a pond with her dress getting snagged on a tree branch, rendering Jane naked. Tarzan jumps after Jane. Tarzan and Jane then swim for quite a long time under water. An Olympic swimmer named Josephine McKim temporarily replaces Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane during the skinny dipping. With Maureen back being Jane she gets out of the water and has to tell Cheetah multiple times to "Give it to me, Give it to me." Cheetah holds her dress hostage while he laughs at her.

Watch the video to see what disturbed Depression Era religious fanatics. And prudish mothers.

Texas Tornado Hail Storm Video

On April 17, 2008 we had ourselves a fairly hellacious storm here in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone of Texas. This was the storm I whined about because it sent the local TV weather guys into non-stop all night long yammering. So, I didn't get to watch Survivor. The storm that had the weather guys in such a dither did not produce a tornado. Six days later another bad storm came along, once more during TV prime time. But this time the local TV did not go into Weather Drama Queen Mode. Yet that storm did produce a tornado which destroyed 4 homes in Crowley. Crowley is a suburb south of Fort Worth.

Back to the April 17 storm. There are these guys who are Tornado Chasers. They have a website called Tornadovideos.net. These guys were in their Storm Chase Vehicle near Weatherford, in the heart of the storm.

Watch the Tornado Chaser's video below and you will see just how hellacious these Texas storms are. At the start the Tornado Chasers are driving through the hail. Eventually they have to stop. The guys get out of their Storm Chase Vehicle and one gets whacked on the head by incoming hail. The hail keeps getting bigger and bigger til it's baseball size. The giant hail cracks their windshield. By the time the hail stops falling the ground is thickly covered with big hail balls that make it look like there has been a big snowfall.

The Battle at Kruger

Oblivious as I am to the world around me it is not too big a surprise that I'd not seen what I guess is the most viewed video on YouTube. That being "The Battle at Kruger." Over 31 millions video views. This video was the Winner of YouTube's Best Eyewitness Video. YouTube must have some sort of awards show. I suppose there is a YouTube video of the YouTube Video Awards Show.

There is a "The Battle at Kruger" website. If you are at work, be warned the website opens with loud jungle music. The turn off the sound button is small, scroll down and you'll find it on the left side of the page.

The Battle at Kruger video lasts a bit over 8 minutes. Stay with it til the end and you are rewarded with a happy ending.

Naked in Seattle

Each morning after I read the hard copy Fort Worth Star-Telegram I then read the online version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to get a, well, more intelligent version of a newspaper. I miss the daily hard copy of the P-I. In all my years of reading the P-I I don't recollect anything about it annoying me, or finding a mistake. I've lost count of the mistakes I've come across in the Star-Telegram. One would have thought I'd spot a mistake or two in the P-I, since I lived in its coverage zone for my entire life, til moving to Texas. Yet, even with me not all that familiar with the coverage zone of the Star-Telegram, I find errors. I think one can extrapolate from that that there must be a lot more errors that I don't spot because I'm not familiar with what's being written about.

Anyway, this morning whilst reading the P-I I was struck, yet again, by how starkly different the West Coast is from Texas. I knew prior to moving that it would be much more conservative, overall, in the Buckle of the Bible Belt. It's not a secret that the West Coast, and Washington in particular, and certainly Seattle, is much more liberal than Texas.

Washington is also way less repressive and, I dunno, free-spirited might be the words I'm looking for. Like in today's P-I on the front page there's a photo of a nudist swinging on a rope over the Ballard Pool. That's the photo above. I can't imagine such a photo appearing in the Star-Telegram. Let alone an article about a local pool's nude swims.

There are a few nudist colonies in Texas and a nude beach called Hippie Hollow down by Austin. The West Coast has nude runs, nude swims, nude bike rides & nude hikes. Vancouver has Wreck Beach, that's a huge nude beach where thousands congregate on a hot summer day. I've been there once. It was fun. But I got sunburned in unfortunate places. Near where I lived in Washington there is a nude beach called Teddy Bear Cove. I remember many a fun night at a natural hot springs near the Mount Baker volcano. It is a short hike through old growth forest to Baker Hot Springs. On a weekend night there were often dozens of nude hot springers having a real good time. Early in the Reagan years orders came from Washington to shut down Baker Hot Springs. It has since been restored to its former glory.

There is a Seattle neighborhood called Fremont that seceded from the Union and declared itself the Independent Republic of Fremont. Fremont has an annual event called the Summer Solstice Parade and Pageant. Thousands attend. A highlight is the nude bike ride. A few years back there was an attempt by some prudes to force clothes on the bike riders. That attempt failed.

I can't imagine a parade in Texas featuring a nude bike ride. If one wanted to go on a nude hike in Texas I don't think it'd be much of a problem because there are a lot of fine parks with fine trails and very very very few Big Texans out hiking on them. Regarding that I'll just say this, for the same reason it is pleasant to swim in the buff it is also pleasant to hike sans outerwear.

Below is a video of a pair of Canucks crossing the border, legally, and heading to Baker Hot Springs. In the video they erroneously name Baker Lake as Mount Baker Lake. I point that out lest you visit the fine state of Washington and want to seek out that scenic lake. There is no one but the Canucks in the hot springs and this pair of Canadians broke the rules by keeping their clothes on. Shameless scofflaws.

Below the video is today's fresh goofiness from the Star-Telegram.



Okay, today's Star-Telegram goofiness is once more that bizarre policy of supposedly making a story local unlike the evil paper in the evil city 30 miles east of Fort Worth, by pointing out any remote Texas connection to someone being written about. On the TV page, in a blurb about a show on FOX called Bones, we learn a guy from American Idol will be on tonight's show. And "fellow Idol grad---and former University of North Texas student---Brandon Rogers also appears and Burleson's Kelly Clarkson gets name-dropped."

Wow! Burleson's Clarkson gets named dropped and some guy who dropped out of a Texas college is on the show! I'm sure glad we got reminded for the umpteenth time that Kelly Clarkson is from Burleson. I almost forgot.

And then on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire The Colony's (that's a Dallas suburb) Janelle Newland goes after the big bucks today, and she's not the last North Texan we'll see during the next couple weeks." Oh thank God, a reason to go on living.

If that is not enough excitement, on American Gladiator, "competition begins, with the challengers including Dallas' Jeff Davidson and his wife, Ally..."

Jenna Bush Tornado Free Wedding

The Jenna Bush wedding did not get hit by the line of storms that passed through north Texas yesterday.

Oh well.

I apologize to my 2 readers for once more succumbing to one of my more pathetic obsessions, but, this morning's Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram had the goofiest example yet of their bizarre policy of trying to tie any story to any remote pointless connection to Fort Worth.

I believe the Star-Telegram's #1 worst reporter is Anna Tinsley. She is the writer who over and over and over again repeated the nonsense that a lame Fort Worth food court was the first pubic market in Texas and was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place. I can remember 2 other glaring errors, one being in her description of trails at Bob Jones Park up by Lake Grapevine. The other being several bizarre mistakes in an article about a new section of trail at River Legacy Park.

So, in this morning's Star-Telegram, Anna Tinsley apparently was sent to Crawford to cover the Jenna Bush wedding.

Under a sub-headline "Texas 'royalty'" Miss Tinsley writes:

"It's like our royalty in Texas is getting married," said Stacy Wallace, a Temple woman who originally hails from Fort Worth. "I've been wanting to come by for some time, and I thought (Saturday) was the perfect day to do it."

She originally hails from Fort Worth? Why is this information we need? So, Miss Tinsley solicited the quote about Texas royalty, telling Miss Wallace she was a reporter for the Fort Worth paper and Miss Wallace then said she hailed from Fort Worth and so Miss Tinsley added that important fact to her story about the Jenna Bush wedding? Is that how this useless point ended up in the paper?

And what precisely does "hails from" mean? Comes from? Doesn't to hail something mean give a shout out to? Or call? Okay, I'll look it up. Well, after we get past the frozen version of hail and objects thrown forcefully through the air and an enthusiastic greeting and to praise vociferously we get to hail meaning to be a native of.

If Miss Wallace now lives in Temple does she still qualify as a native of Fort Worth?

I'm past caring now. Below is an amusing video about the Jenna Bush wedding. It sounds like the report comes from India.

Tornado Warning for Jenna Bush Wedding

At 4:15 PM CDT the National Storm Prediction Center issued a Tornado Watch until 9:00 PM CDT. The storm line runs from about 50 northeast of Dallas, southwest to Temple, Texas. Temple is south of Waco. In the neighborhood of Crawford. Where Jenna Bush is due to walk down the aisle with her daddy come sunset.

So, at this point in time the Jenna Bush wedding has the potential to have some good weather drama. The local TV stations are likely already in full arm waving Weather Drama Queen Mode. I'm not going to turn on the TV to find out.

Watch the below video to get a real good idea of what we put up with here in constantly stormy Texas.

Jeers to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

I vaguely recollect a time or two complaining about my little world class town's newspaper of record, that being the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. If I remember right I've made note before of the fact that I am not alone in bashing this deteriorating newspaper.

The complaints directed at this newspaper have grown so widespread and numerous that the newspaper itself seems to be joining in the bashing, in that of late it regularly prints reader's whines.

For example, on Saturdays on the editorial page there is always a section called "Cheers and Jeers." Now, me with my, well, negative nature, only read the "Jeers." The "Cheers" all too often are just dumb.

Like this one--- "Cheers: To Jean Johnson in home fashions and Mary Anderson in appliances at Sears for helping with a recent purchase."

I can't help but wonder if Jean and Mary sent in this "Cheer" to toot their own horn. I also can't help but wonder why the Star-Telegram would print it.

In today's "Cheers and Jeers" there were a large number of Jeers directed at the Star-Telegram, proving yet again I am not alone in my Star-Telegram bashing. What follows are some of the anti Star-Telegram Jeers.

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram for publishing awful photos of the NASCAR drivers in the April 3 Race Week section. They looked like bad driver's license pictures or police mug shots. Jeers to NASCAR if those were the only photos supplied.
--Shaun Eason, Arlington

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram for making no mention of a prominent day in U.S. history in the April 18 paper. The Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942, was the first time in World War II when we were able to attack Japan on its homeland. Anyone know if any of the 80 crewmen are still alive?
--R.H. Rastall, Granbury

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram write Gaile Robinson for omitting the Amon Carter Museum's masterpieces Bluebonnets in her April 6 story on the Julian Onderdonk exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art. Why not cheer for the home team?
--Ruth C. Stevenson, Fort Worth

(make note of the above Jeer exhibiting the local's anti-Dallas fixation that I find so bizarre)

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram for being MIA at the races at Texas Motor Speedway, which is in Fort Worth. The other paper (meaning the Dallas paper) was there, but not you. For many years, you gave away newspapers in the campgrounds and in the stands. Great idea for Fort Worth. No longer.
--Steve Unger, Lake Kiowa

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram for selling auto advertisements that have the front end of the cars coming out of the ads into the news columns. I understand the need for ad revenue, but the paper doesn't seem to understand that customers don't want the ads leaping out at them.
--G.K. Worley, Fort Worth

(personal note: I agree, those ads are very annoying and look really cheesy)

Jeers: To the Star-Telegram for the May 2 gardening story that began: "It's time to give your lawn its first haircut of the season." Maybe in Philadelphia, where the story originated. But this is Texas, and I've been mowing my grass for three months. Can't the Star-Telegram find someone from here to write about the yard?
--Mark Watson, Trophy Club

Okay, that's it for Jeering at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for the day. It's time for breakfast.

Nick Hogan Doesn't Know Best

75% of the hundreds of people who have voted in my latest poll have indicated I should complain more about TV. Why, I do not know. But, I live to oblige.

So, I was eating lunch in front of a TV today and MSNBC was live with a crime sentencing. On the screen I saw that pop culture oddity, the pro-wrestler who calls himself Hulk Hogan. I wondered what crime did he commit? I remember reading that his wife Linda had had her fill of his overbearing ways and had filed for divorce. Had Hulk wrestled with her roughly?

I do remember watching an episode of "Hogan Knows Best," that being the Hogan Family reality show on that repository of BAD TV known as VH1, and the Hulk's wife, Linda had insisted on keeping a constantly pooping, diaper wearing monkey in the house. Much hilarity and mayhem ensued. A highlight being the Hulk having to change a monkey diaper and the monkey rubbing monkey poop on Mr. Hogan. A reality show highpoint.

Anyway, back to today on MSNBC. It was not Hulk Hogan who was heading behind bars. It's the teenage son, 17 year old Nick who is going to do some hard time. Unbeknownst to me (I can not be expected to keep up on everything) Nick was speeding, drunk and had a wreck which left his friend, a US Marine named John Graziano, in a possibly permanent vegetative state of perpetual coma.

I do not know if this will all show up on "Hogan Knows Best." Or if the divorce is part of the show. I do know that "Hogan Knows Best" now has a spin-off called "Brooke Hogan Knows Best." Brooke is the daughter. She's a singer wannabe. She looks older than her years. She seems likable.

I've not watched all that many of the "Hogan Knows Best" shows. I've found the wife, Linda, amusing, the kids tolerable, and Hulk Hogan an overbearing, sorta pseudo macho acting guy with an affected sounding way too deep voice and an odd, likely steroid use enhanced mode of walking, likely due to all that heft.

I happened upon an episode of "Hogan Knows Best" just a day or two ago. Linda and daughter Brooke tricked Hogan, real name, Terry, into going to a spa for all sortsa girly treatments to which he greatly objected. When it came time for him to wash off all the weird goo that had been rubbed all over him, his daughter, Brooke, managed to glance into the shower room and come out screaming, "I saw dad's wienie, I saw dad's wienie!" It being cable, and VH1 I cringed in fear that we, the innocent viewers, were also going to get a peak. We didn't. We did see Terry Hogan in the world's skimpiest bikini though and that is something I wish I'd not seen.

I don't know how Nick Hogan got so out of control. I'm amazed, from what I've seen on the show, that he got away from his dad long enough to get drunk. I remember one episode revolved around the dad's out of control concern that the then 15 year old Nick was being sexually active. Much cringeworthty TV time followed.

From what I've seen of Nick Hogan on "Hogan Knows Best," he is not going to handle very well the inevitable strip search prior to his lockup. I'm sure VH1 will be there to share every detail.

I'm Not The Only Star-Telegram Basher

I am not the only Fort Worth Star-Telegram Basher. Our numbers are large and they are increasing at about the same rate as the Star-Telegram is diminishing. Below is a Letter to the Editor from today's edition. Yet one more reader cancelling his subscription. I continue to subscribe, eternal optimist that I am, hoping that somehow this paper can be fixed. I'm very naive, I admit it.

---

As a subscriber for many years, I’ve watched the steady decline during the past couple of years as the Star-Telegram eliminated valued, usable content and began its descent into irrelevance.

After reading the series on JPS, however, I came to realize that the newspaper is no longer concerned with objective journalism, either.

Half-truths and subjective viewpoints were passed off as fact. Information more than 2 years old was passed off as current and, worse, still valid. Information that could have presented a balanced viewpoint was ignored. Successes were ignored.

Yes, JPS has problems, as does any hospital. But much of what was purported to be wrong with JPS had already been identified, addressed and resolved.

My main problem is that your series didn’t serve the public by providing an objective look at the situation. Instead, the focus seemed to be more on sensationalism, slanted to prey on our fears and mistrust and a need to create a “crisis in healthcare.” Give us the whole story, not just half.

The real crisis lies with the Star-Telegram. I’ve had enough. After I hit the send button, I’ll be calling to cancel my subscription.

— Brad Brown, Fort Worth

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Video

I was in Arlington early yesterday morning. I had my video camera with me. I was near the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. I saw construction workers on the roof. It looked dangerous. I could not see how they were tethered to prevent a fall. I'm sure they were, but I could see no ropes attached to the workers.

A couple days ago I blogged about Jerry Jones' latest attempts to boot people out of their homes, for a parking lot, and that this time the City of Arlington is not going along as his co-conspirator in abusing the concept of eminent domain to attain private property for the public good.

I was able to find the location of the houses surrounded by Jerry Jones' new parking lot. I wanted to take a photo to illustrate those unlucky people's plight. But, that opportunity did not present itself. I think more newly acquired houses need to be bulldozed before the holdouts are in an Island of Parking Lots in the latest chapter of the worst abuse of eminent domain in American history.

The photo you see above is from the south side of the new stadium, with one of the few apartment complexes in the stadium zone still standing after Jerry Jones' Blitzkrieg of Bulldozers leveled all its neighbors.

Below is a video I made yesterday. In it you can see those workers on the roof I mentioned above. And you'll see some of what used to sit on the land the stadium now squats on.

Fort Worth's First Public Market

My dear 2 readers. Today is a whine about the Fort Worth Star-Telegram blogging day. I do this for my own enjoyment, not yours. So, read on if you must, but it won't hurt my feelings if you don't.

So, this morning's paper brought me a lotta fresh fodder. Right now I'll only mention one. In the Work & Money section in an article under the headline "List of endangered sites set to get longer."

Among the supposedly historic sites in Fort Worth that are in danger is the one you see in the photo. That being the Fort Worth Public Market Building.

The article describes the Fort Worth Public Market Building as having been built in 1930 to provide space for local farmers and vendors, closing in 1941.

So, what's the big deal? Well. Just a few short years ago the Fort Worth Star-Telegram had absolutely no awareness that Fort Worth had had a Public Market Building where farmers vended their wares.

In downtown Fort Worth a pathetic, obviously doomed to fail, badly designed, poorly executed, dishonestly promoted, small mall food court like thing opened to much Star-Telegram brouhaha. This sad, now shuttered, mistake, was called the Sante Fe Rail Market.

The Star-Telegram over and over and over and over again, even after being told, more than once, they were wrong, repeatedly claimed that the Santa Fe Rail Market was not only the first Public Market in Fort Worth, Fort Worth's disinformation purveyor claimed the Santa Fe Rail Market was the first Public Market in Texas!

The Star-Telegram also served up the ridiculous assertion, over and over and over again, that the Santa Fe Rail Market was modeled after Seattle's Pike Place Market and Public Markets in Europe. Just 30 miles to the west, in Weatherford, there is a Public Market. And 30 miles to the east, in Dallas, there is a Public Market. Both of which, particularly the Dallas Market, actually do resemble Seattle's Pike Place Market, a market no Star-Telegram employee must have ever seen, as in how in clear conscience could they then have repeatedly repeated this absurd assertion?

Regarding the endangered Fort Worth Public Market, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram repeated the misinformation about the Santa Fe debacle being the first in Texas many many many times, even after it was pointed out to them that the first Public Market in Fort Worth was within walking distance of both the new soon to fail pseudo public market and the Star-Telegram's offices. I suggested they send one of their bloviated reporters out for a look. I also suggested they send a reporter to Seattle and have the reporter write an article making note of all the similarities between Pike Place and the Santa Fe Rail Market. If he could find any.

It is sort of sad that a transplant from the west coast, exiled in Fort Worth, has to point out the facts of their own town to the local newspaper. Something ain't right about that.

So, today it was interesting to read that these few years later the Star-Telegram is now not only acknowledging the existence of Fort Worth's first Public Market, they even put a large photo of it in the paper to illustrate the endangered structures.

Now if only they'd examine their part in the Santa Fe Rail Market's failure, due to the Star-Telegram helping create an erroneous expectation for visitors, particularly those who had been to Pike Place or some other successful public market, who were then disgusted to visit that sad Santa Fe operation and see what a lame thing it was and realize they'd been lied to once more by the local paper of record. The Star-Telegram should be ashamed for its part in that enterprise's demise.

With today's discovery of the actual first public market in Fort Worth how does the Star-Telegram reconcile their ridiculous inconsistencies? One can't help but wonder.

Tomorrow, unless something else comes, along I'll blog about the latest outrage from Fort Worth's ruling junta.

Dallas Doctor Warning

I don't have a lot of respect for many aspects of the Medical Business Industry. My limited contact with that business has always been not a pretty thing.

My worst experience being when I had to have a CAT SCAN. When I got to the hospital I was told that my doctor had ordered a different test due to some new test results. I was told I needed, I think it was called, a Gallium scan. It's been a lot of years and these are memories I want to fade.

I asked what is a Gallium scan for? You'll have to talk to your doctor I was told. I started getting a bit nervous. I was brought a large glass of a very vile fluid and told to drink it. It was gag material.

After about an hour a doctor showed up and I asked again what this Gallium scan was for and what has happened that has changed so that I'm not having a CAT SCAN? I was told a Gallium scan was to look for Hodgkin's Disease. I knew this was a cancer and that my grandpa I never met was killed by it.

Needless to say my blood pressure was going up. I was already in there for a fairly serious problem and now it got way amped up.

I started getting more insistent that I wanted an explanation. A nurse looked at some charts and seemed confused. She left. After awhile 2 doctors showed up. They asked my name. You're not Mr. Sloan? No, I am not. They told me there'd been a chart mix up.

And so, I was then led to another room, with my gut full of that vile liquid. There was some apologizing and then we proceeded on to the CAT SCAN.

When I got the medical bills, they were a Byzantine Ball of Confusion. My original operation required a, well, prothesis type of thing, made of silicone. The bill charged twice for it. I found many mistakes in the bill with my amateur eyes. I took the bill to my doctor and asked if he'd look for other mistakes. He said he wouldn't do that, ask a nurse. The nurse wouldn't do it either. I called the hospital and told them due to all the mistakes of various sorts I was not going to pay them. And I didn't.

Now, why am I telling this sad story right now? Well, I just read Gar the Texan's Blog about his bad experience recently with a bad Dallas doctor. A shrink named Neil Jacobson. Gar the Texan's daughter nearly died from this quack prescribing a pill after seeing her for 15 minutes. The hospital bill is quite large, Gar the Texan's lawyer told him it is not economically feasible to sue over such a small amount. I told Gar the Texan that is what small claims court is for.

And one of the things the Internet is good for is being able to spread the word about dangers like this Dallas doctor. 20 years ago our only source of such info would have been the conventional media, like the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In other words, we live in an infinitely safer world now due to the Internet.

Dallas Cowboys Attacking Homes Again

Jerry Jones decided he needed more Arlington homes destroyed for added parking space for his new Dallas Cowboy stadium. So, Jerry Jones sent out someone to make offers to a number of homeowners. About a dozen, so far, have agreed to sell. Once the deals were made the deeds were transferred to a company run by Jerry Jones.

The city of Arlington, stung by their notorious new reputation for being co-conspirators in the worst abuse of the concept of eminent domain in American history, refused to use eminent domain this time.

Jerry Jones minions have been very aggressive, harassing the holdouts relentlessly. Jerry Jones has now acquired enough new parking lot space that the holdouts will end up being an island surrounded by concrete. And football fans.

Holdouts have had their homes invaded and have had to chase surveyors off their property.

Meanwhile, there are many cases still being litigated from the original land grab. Apparently there is some principle along the lines of you can't start bulldozing until due process has been followed. Or whatever the right legalese is. But Jerry Jones unleashed his Army of Bulldozers in a Hitlerian Blitzkrieg while homeowners were still trying to fight their destruction by using the American court system, well, the American court system as practiced in Texas.

If the cases can get to a court outside of Texas jurisdiction it would seem there'd be a good chance that justice might finally be found and maybe ultimate justice might be attained and someone finds himself charged, arraigned, tried, convicted and behind bars. And the NFL changes its mind about playing a Super Bowl in a stadium so shamefully built on what amounts to being a graveyard of people's unfairly altered lives.

I wonder how actively those holdout's home invasions have been investigated?

Six Flags Over Texas Roller Coasting

I've been to Six Flags Over Texas twice. Both times due to being given free passes. When I moved to Texas I thought it'd be fun living near what I assumed would be something like Disneyland. Sadly I was not out of the Six Flags parking lot before I realized Six Flags was no Disneyland.

Six Flags Over Texas is known for its roller coasters. I had not been on a roller coaster since I took my nephews to Vegas a couple months before I moved. In Vegas I rode the New York New York roller coaster. It is a bumpy ride but not bone jarring. In the photo that is me and my nephew Joey in the front seats on the NYNY coaster.

By the time I made my first visit to Six Flags I knew their Texas Giant wooden roller coaster was one of the world's tallest and that it had been named by some group of professional roller coaster riders as the Best Wooden Roller Coaster in the world.

I'd been on a wooden roller coaster before, at the PNE in Vancouver, Canada. The Canadian wooden roller coaster did not prepare me for the Texas Giant. It may be my age-related frailness, but by the time I got off the Texas Giant my bones were aching, my back felt like I'd been in a Nazi torture chamber, my neck was twisted. And my hair was a total mess.

And so I vowed to never get on another roller coaster. And I haven't.

You can ride the Texas Giant via the YouTube video below. And go to my Eyes on Texas website for more Six Flags coaster rides.

Scarlett Dumped Me For Ryan Reynolds

I'm shocked. After our long secret romance, Scarlett Johannson is suddenly marrying someone named Ryan Reynolds. How did this happen? Who is Ryan Reynolds? I don't even feel like I know Scarlett anymore. I don't feel like I ever really did.

Not having a clue as to who this was who stole Scarlett away from me I had to look it up. He's a Canadian. From Vancouver. How can she marry a Canadian? They say "eh" after almost every sentence, like they question every thing that comes out of their mouths. It is very very annoying after you hear dozens of "eh's".

That's Ryan Reynolds on the right. Eh? With the beard. Eh? Scarlett looks like she's lost weight. Eh?

Canadians also don't know how to properly pronounce other words. Like they can not say "about." It comes out as "aboot." Eh?

And Canadians leave off the word "the" when they speak of going to a hospital. They don't say, "They took him to the hospital." Canadians say, "They took him to hospital." Eh?

I worked for a short time for an ex-priest in Tacoma who married an ex-nun and who runs a rundown trinket store in Tacoma. He would say, "I will have to talk that over with staff." Not, "I will talk that over with the staff." Or, "my staff." That'd work too. I don't know why I find this annoying. Maybe, in the ex-priest's case, it's because his staff consisted of his ne-er-do-well son, the son's high school dropout wife, a dissipated elderly alcoholic, a blonde floozy and a yes girl who acted like Honey in the Doonesbury strip. It just seemed sort of pretentious to refer to that group as staff.

One time the ex-priest told me he considered me part of staff. Even though I'm in Texas. I was offput. I did not want to be part of staff. I no longer am part of staff. It was probably my bad attitude that got me removed from staff. Eh?

I also worked for the ex-priest's hugely obese sister. She sold chocolate and ate considerable volumes of the stuff. While being perpetually on the Atkin's Diet. She had all sorts of digestive and hygiene issues. Due to her size she fell down every once in awhile. I only saw one fall. It was like watching a large tree slowly crash to the ground. She never got hurt from the falls due to all that heft acting like a giant pillow. Or at least that's what I assumed. When I saw her fall I tried to help her get back up, but I can only lift 300 pounds tops.

Eventually I had enough and had to fire the ex-priest's hugely obese sister. She'd lied to and cheated one of my best friends one time too many. She was caught shorting her workers on pay. And then she made the mistake of shorting me. I never did learn the exact size of the fine that she had to pay to Labor & Industries. Except that I heard through the grapevine that it was substantial. The IRS caught up to her too. For not filing for 10 years.

I wonder who turned her in?

Turkmenistan Texas

I was reminded of Fort Worth's Bass family when I saw this photo of what I believe is the Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov Performance Hall in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Fort Worth's Bass Family, as I've noted previously, has an odd habit of naming Fort Worth buildings after themselves, like the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov was Turkmenistan's president for life til he died a couple years ago. He became quite famous during his reign for his megalomaniacal ways, one of which was a penchant for naming all sorts of things after himself on a level that leaves the Bass Family puny pikers.

Niyazov decided the old names for months and days would be much better if named after various people, such as himself and his mother and other Turkmenistan historical figures.

He even renamed bread after his mother. Both the month of April and bread became Gurbansoltan. April seems a much prettier name for both bread and a month. And a mother. Maybe Gurbansoltan sounds better in its native tongue than it reads in English. When I try to say Gurbansoltan it sounds like Gur Buns So Tan.

Niyazov banned car radios, lip-synching and all recorded music.

Because Niyazov thought dogs smelled bad they were banned from capital city Ashgabat.

Niyazov spent untold millions of dollars to build a lake. Which is yet one more thing Ashgabat and Fort Worth have in common, as in Fort Worth has a boondoggly plan to spend untold millions of dollars to build a lake, and just like in Turkmenistan, the good citizens of Fort Worth do not get to vote on the lake that may flood part of their town. Fort Worth's ruling junta makes those type decisions and then orders property owners off their property using the unique Texas variant of the concept of using eminent domain to acquire private property for the public good. Like building a lake.

President-for-Life Niyazoz liked seeing himself in sculpted form, so he ordered statues of himself erected all over Turkmenistan, including a 40 foot high gold statue that stood on top of a 20 story tower and rotated throughout the day to face the sun.

I used the past tense to describe the location of the above statue because it has gone bye-bye. The new Turkmenistan President-for-Life, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, ordered the gold statue moved to another part of Ashgabat. I don't know if it still rotates.

The new President-for-Life is not seen as a powerful leader like his predecessor. Because he looks so much like the previous President-for-Like it is rumored throughout Turkmenistan that Berdymukhamedov is Niyazoz's illegitimate son.

Berdymukhamedov is sort of acting like his possible dad in that he is sort of making moves to start his own personality cult. He recently ordered that his likeness be put on newly minted coins. Can statues and a new calendar be far behind? Maybe he'll rename the country Absurdistan.

I bet there are members of the Bass Family who would love to have a statue or two in their honor, along with their likeness on a coin or two.

Hillary Clinton Physically Assaults Barack Obama

Yesterday I checked in on Fort Worth's best blogger and found myself amused by a YouTube video in which Hillary battles Barack with a light saber in a futile effort to get him to come over to the Dark Side. The Force continues to be with Barack, though, with a lot of support, including Abraham Lincoln.

Rattlesnake Phobia

When I began my exile in Texas back in 1999 I think the #1 thing that concerned me about Texas (at that point in time) was I knew rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins lived in Texas. Along with tarantulas.

On the west side of the mountains, in Washington, there are no poisonous snakes. Eastern Washington does have rattlesnakes, but I never saw one. I do remember a ranger at Sun Lakes State Park once warning my brother and me of a bunch of rattlers ahead in the canyon we were climbing around in.

When I was first in Texas, at my first abode, I had to walk out a long driveway to get my morning paper. It took me along time to quit worrying I'd encounter a snake.

I was swimming in Lake Grapevine in July of 2002. I knew there were water moccasins in the lake. Suddenly a reptilian head popped up in my face. I did not know I was able to swim as fast as I did. The temps were well over 100. Forgetting that, I ran out on the metal floating dock to see if I could see the snake. I was jumping up and down cuz the deck was so hot. After a minute or so of hot footing it a big turtle popped up instead of a snake. They can bite you too, it just isn't poisonous. I've not been back in Lake Grapevine.

And then in 2003 I went to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup. Sweetwater is a town out in west Texas, about 200 miles from my current location. At the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup I saw hundreds of snakes. I heard many rattling. At first I was unsettled by all the up close and personal contact I was seeing with the snakes, but I got used to it.

I'd bought my first video camcorder the week before I went to Sweetwater. The YouTube video below is the first video I made. Hence the goofy bad titles at the start. But, even though this was my first video, and with it only being on YouTube for a few months, it is by far my most viewed video with almost 2000 viewings.

The rattlesnakes at Sweetwater were the first I'd seen in Texas. My snake fear had had some reinforcement via copperhead and water moccasin encounters at a Indian Village Park in Arlington. And I've had many non-poisonous snake encounters at River Legacy Park. You can go here and see a photo of a huge snake blocking my way at River Legacy.

So, one week after hearing all those rattles rattling at Sweetwater I was biking the Extreme Trail at Cedar Hills State Park's mountain bike trail in Dallas. I was nearing the top of Expletive Ridge when I let out an expletive, not due to the steep, punishing hill, but due to the no mistaking what it was loud sound of a rattlesnake rattle. I looked to my right and there it was, bigger than any I'd seen in Sweetwater, its rattle in fully erect position and shaking hard as the snake slithered away. I suspect it'd been napping on the sun warmed trail when the sound of me coming up the hill woke it up.

The rattlesnake encounter sent my adrenaline into overdrive. The section of trail after Expletive Ridge went through a marshy, tall grass area. Prime snake territory it seemed to me. I pedalled as fast as I could to get through it and was real happy when I reached a much broader section of trail.

I have not been back to Expletive Ridge since, because of the rattler encounter, plus the fact that the trail was destroyed by a 13 inch rain and has only recently re-opened with newly built trails.

It amazes me how my snake phobia has so greatly diminished over the years. It doesn't even cross my mind anymore, even when hiking in a real wild place like Tandy Hills Park. Of course, all it would take is one close snake encounter and my phobia will be back.

JFK Assassination Anniversary

Yes. I know it isn't November 22. But I'm busy doing something that requires me to concentrate my limited brainpower, so I've got not enough mental bandwidth to think of anything to blog about. But, my YouTube videos now seem to work just fine in this Blog.

Back in 2003 I went to Dealey Plaza in Dallas for the 40th Anniversary of the JFK Assassination. This event drew a huge crowd, as you will see in the video. Many very moving and very odd things occurred during this event, the most macabre being police arriving in riot gear just as the moment marking the firing of the sniper's gun arrived, diverting everyone's attention. I did not catch the police on video, I had my digital camera out when they arrived. You can see the police and more photos from that day by going to my Eyes on Texas website. And below you can watch the video I took that day.

Paula Abdul is a Precious Gift

Paula Abdul had one of her better moments of ditsy weirdness on Tuesday's American Idol. The 5 remaining singers were to warble 2 songs each. The judges did not do their usual critiquing after each singer sang.

Instead, after all 5 had sung their first song they stood as a group in front of the judges to hear what they had to say.

Well, Paula started with the dreadlocked, perpetually stoned-acting one, named Jason Castro, believed to be Fidel's 4th cousin twice removed. Paula pretty much told Jason she did not like his performance of his first song, that being the only song he'd sung. And then she went to tell Jason she also did not like his second song. Which he had not yet sung.

Paula was, in a very confused way, reading off notes. When the other judges, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell tried to get out of this mess, Paula just got more confused, crying "this is so hard."

The show's host, Ryan Seacrest, tried to get out of the awkward moment with an attempt at humor, saying "Paula is finally revealing her secret power, that she can see the future." Or something like that.

Last year Paula had her own reality show on Bravo, called "Hey Paula." It was extremely painful to watch, but in a good bad train wreck sort of way. We got to see the backstage look at those embarrassing interviews she gave last year that caused a big brouhaha because she appeared to be drugged, drunk or both.

I thought the "Hey Paula" show would be the end of her career, that American Idol would replace her. It was that embarrassing.

My favorite moment of the "Hey Paula" train wreck was a part where Paula was in full whining, crying mode, verbalizing her odd sense of entitlement and her displeasure at being ill-served by her minions. She uttered what I thought would become an infamous quote that Simon Cowell would use at least once, but hasn't, as far as I know. Paula said, "Why don't they appreciate me for the precious gift that I am?"

Below you can watch YouTube video of Paula being very precious this past Tuesday.